Ahmed Alabaca

Ahmed Alabaca is an African American composer, conductor, songwriter, pianist, and community facilitator creating power and possibility, through music, for himself and the diverse communities he is a part of. Raised in San Bernardino CA, in a low-income community, Alabaca knows the value of hard work and perseverance in the face of systemic and interpersonal challenges. Alabaca’s vision is “a new renaissance” for underrepresented composers, which centers on the works of people of color and creates opportunities for them to perform, record, and archive their work.

Alabaca received his B.A. in Music from Hunter College in New York, and attended advanced classes in film scoring at Juilliard and UCLA extensions. While in New York, Alabaca also scored three new plays and one new musical, including Eaten Voices which won Best of Festival at the 2012 Thespis Theatre Festival and a cash prize of $5,000.

In 2014 Alabaca moved to Los Angeles CA where he has scored several web series, television shows, and short films including: I Too Am America, written and directed by Shehkshem Ebron; Emmy award winning web series Giants, featured on Issa Rae’s Youtube channel, written and directed by James Bland and produced by Jussie Smollett of the show Empire; and Empire, created by Lee Daniels and Danny Strong for Fox. Alabaca received a 2017 Indie Series Award nomination for Best Song in a series for his work on Giants.

Alabaca has also received commissions for his concert works from presenters across the country including: the Colour of Music Festival with the world premiere of the work Across the Calm Waters of Heaven (2016); the world premiere of Ascension for Solo Clarinet and String Orchestra with the San Jose Chamber Orchestra (2018); and the world premiere of Las Mariposas at the Voiced Project in Chicago (2018). With countless arrangements from negro spirituals to showtunes, Alabaca is currently working on two new commissions: a Violin Sonata for Anyango Yarbo Davenport and a French Horn Sonata for David Dickerson.

Alabaca is a Guest Conductor for the DC Strings, a classical music collective bringing accessible classical music to Washington DC; Artistic Director of The New Alchemists, an artist collective building power and possibility for diverse communities through theatre, film, and music; and Assistant Conductor of the South East Symphony, a group focused on equity and artistry within classical music. Alabaca is also the pianist, co-writer, and co-founder of The Humble Boys, a band that focuses on how music can heal, uplift, and encourage individuals to live their most fulfilled lives.