Draft:Alice Gomez

Family Background
Born in January 1960 into a musical family in Alaska, Alice Lynn Gomez was raised in a rich multicultural environment in Texas, Influenced by her families’ hispanic and musical heritage. Alice started playing drums at the age of eight in her father's Latino dance band and began to compose music on her own as early as in elementary school. Upon graduating with a master degree in music performance at UTSA in 1987, Alice has officially ventured into the music field.

Music Style
By embracing Latino, Mexican Indian, and Native American cultural heritage with her mission for peace and social justice, she has quickly risen to become one of the most influential composer on “creating contemporary works that capture the true spirit of ethnicity”

Awards and Achievements
Alice’s initial recognition was gained through her ground-breaking and culturally diverse symphonic works, "Primitive Echoes", a spiritual concerto for timpani and orchestra based on folk traditions of Mexican and American Indian rhythms. After its success in November 1992, Alice spent the following three years serving as Composer-inResidence at San Antonio Symphony. working tirelessly to bridge the symphony with the predominantly Hispanic community of San Antonio. Additionally, she showcased her talent as an arranger of Hispanic and popular music for the symphony, contributing arrangements for its Pops series featuring Tejano artists. Alice's innovative work garnered her ASCAP composer's awards for five consecutive years from 1993 to 1998.

Alice Gomez is also an active instrumentalist. She has served as a performing percussionist in San Antonio and has played professionally with a variety of musical groups including The San Antonio Early Music Ensemble, The San Quilmas Consort, Gomez also plays marimba and steel drums in the San Antonio area. And has served as an associate professor at San Antonio College since 1990. As a female composer, Alice's repertoire often explores themes of ancient mystery and feminine characteristics. Among her most notable works are the albums "Obsidian Butterfly" and "Flute Dreams," compositions reflecting the female deities in Aztec culture.12 These albums were released together with Madalyn Blanchett and Marilyn Rife,who have been working with Alice on native music together since 1994. These works have earned Alice the Silver Wave debut award, along with widespread support from several other independent record labels.