Alexandra McArthur is a Buffalo-based vocalist, educator, composer, and artistic collaborator whose work spans jazz, choral music, musical theatre, arts education, wellness, and interdisciplinary performance. Known for her expressive, multi-colored voice, nuanced storytelling, and thoughtful musicianship, she approaches music as a way of listening, communicating, and creating connection across people, traditions, and communities. Her work is grounded in a deep respect for the histories and artists who have shaped the music she engages with, regardless of genre or tradition.
She is drawn to experiences that help her better understand herself and the world around her, finding particular joy in the challenge of trying something new, exploring unfamiliar musical terrain, and learning from the people she encounters along the way. Alexandra thrives on collaboration, finding equal value in working with people who share her perspective and those whose experiences and ways of thinking challenge her to see something differently. This curiosity has led her to build a deliberately varied career, moving fluidly between musical genres, artistic disciplines, educational spaces, and creative communities.
Over the past decade, Alexandra has built a multifaceted career throughout Western New York, cultivating longstanding relationships with musicians, composers, conductors, educators, and arts organizations while increasingly seeking opportunities that stretch her creatively and bring her work into new artistic communities. She is a four-time JazzBuffalo Female Vocalist of the Year (2018, 2021, 2022, 2023), a longtime collaborator with the Buffalo Jazz Collective and Historic Colored Musicians Club & Jazz Museum, and a featured vocalist and concert host with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra’s Education Program.
Recent highlights reflect the breadth of her work as a performer and collaborator. In 2026, Alexandra opened for Grammy Award-winning artist Gregory Porter at Kleinhans Music Hall with guitarist Bob Sneider and performed as a backing vocalist for Josh Groban with Vocalis Chamber Choir in Chautauqua, NY and Canandaigua, NY. She has portrayed Billie Holiday alongside Grammy Award-winning pianist and longtime artistic collaborator George Caldwell in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill with MusicalFare Theatre in both January 2023 and January/February 2026. Her longstanding artistic collaborators also include legendary saxophonist Bobby Militello, with whom she worked from 2015–2022, and drummer, composer, and educator Dr. John Bacon, with whom she has collaborated since 2016.
Alexandra is a current member of both Vocalis Chamber Choir and the Toronto-based Nathaniel Dett Chorale, continuing relationships with professional choral ensembles that have been an important part of her artistic life since 2018. She is also an emerging composer and arranger, having composed and arranged original music and hymns commissioned by the Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo in 2025, with Jessie Downs and Caroline Mallonee serving as mentors in the process.
Alongside her performing and creative work, Alexandra is an active music educator and teaching artist. She studied musical theatre and classical vocal performance at the University at Buffalo and leads workshops, masterclasses, and educational programs that invite students and communities to engage with music as active participants in the artistic process.
Whether performing jazz, singing in a professional choir, portraying a historical figure, composing new music, teaching, or collaborating across disciplines, Alexandra is drawn to work that is honest, curious, generous, and deeply human. She believes that when artists bring their individual voices together with trust and a shared commitment to the music, they can create experiences that resonate far beyond the performance itself.
Her upcoming performance with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra represents the realization of a lifelong dream. Alexandra gives thanks to God, her guardian angels, and the many people and opportunities that have brought her to this moment.
You can get tickets to see Alexandra perform at the BOP’s “S’Wonderful Gershwin” at BPO.org
If you would like to see some of Alexandra’s other projects, you can vist her website: alexmcarthurmusic.com