Alexander Kahn was appointed Music Director and Conductor of the Napa Valley Youth Symphony in March 2025. He is also an Associate Professor of Music and Director of Orchestral Activities at Sonoma State University, where he leads the Sonoma State Symphony Orchestra and teaches courses in conducting, music history, musicianship, and general education.

Before joining Sonoma State, Alexander served as Associate Professor of Music and Director of Orchestral Activities at Gettysburg College’s Sunderman Conservatory of Music. He is the Founder and former Music Director of the UC Berkeley Chamber Orchestra and served as the Assistant Conductor of the UC Berkeley Symphony.

In addition to his work at Sonoma State, Alexander currently holds the position of Assistant and Cover Conductor for the Santa Rosa Symphony and Music Director of the Vintner’s Chamber Orchestra, a professional group performing at wineries across Sonoma and Napa counties. His previous roles include Music Director of the Metta Ensemble (Gettysburg, PA), Cover Conductor for the Baltimore Symphony, Staff Conductor for the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC, Assistant Conductor of the Bamberg Symphony, and Music Director of the Bamberg Collegium Musicum. He has also enjoyed guest conducting engagements with the Winchester Orchestra of San Jose, the Mill Valley Philharmonic, Festival Opera Walnut Creek, Encore Coda, Cazadero Performing Arts Camps, and various middle school and high school honor orchestras throughout California. A passionate advocate for music education, he serves on the Advisory Board for the California Orchestra Director’s Association (CODA).

Alexander earned a PhD in Music History from UC Berkeley, where his dissertation, Double Lives: Exile Composers in Los Angeles, explored the community of European exiles who fled to Los Angeles during the Third Reich. He has lectured and published works on topics such as World War II-era music, music and mindfulness meditation, the history of film music, and amateur music-making in America. His recent book, Caring for the Whole Musician, co-authored with Larry Hensel, examines the intersection of mindfulness and the Alexander Technique, and was published by Routledge Press in May 2023.

Born into a musical family, Alexander’s love of music was inherited from his father, Eugene Kahn, a conductor and educator on Long Island. His conducting studies include training under David Milnes at UC Berkeley and at the Peabody Institute with Marin Alsop, Gustav Meier, and Markand Thakar, as well as workshops with renowned teachers such as Larry Rachleff, Kenneth Kiesler, Daniel Lewis, and Peter Gülke.

When he’s not conducting, Alexander enjoys cooking, hiking, reading, traveling, and spending quality time with his wife and daughter.