
VOCALIST | ACTRESS EDUCATOR | COMPOSER
“She is a remarkable singer with so many colors in her voice
and a dynamic stage presence.”
Ron Spigelman The Buffalo Spree, August 2026
4X-WINNER BUFFALO JAZZ VOCALIST OF THE YEAR!
"Alex McArthur is damn good. She has the slight “sizzle” with the esses and the ability to smoothly glide from note to note which was Billie Holiday’s signature. And when I say “glide”...I’m talking about the glissando and rubato of real blues and jazz singers. Alex McArthur is a treasure. She is the real deal..."
Peter Hall, Buffalo Rising, January 2023
Alexandra mcarthur


Recent performances...

S'wonderful gershwin
Kleinhans Music Hall
with
Harry Graser - piano
Stephen Parisi - bass
John Bacon Jr. - drums
Also featuring New York Philharmonic pianist Eric Heubner playing Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue!
featuring Alexandra McArthur
The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra



TICKETS:

Alexandra McArthur & Bob Sneider,
opening for Gregory Porter
Kleinhans Music Hall
June 2026


Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, February 2026
Alex McArthur as Billie Holiday, with George Caldwell




Vocalist
Educator
Alexandra McArthur is a Buffalo, New York-based vocalist, bandleader, choral artist, music coordinator, educator, composer, and teaching artist whose work spans jazz, choral music, musical theatre, arts education, wellness, and creative collaboration. Over the past decade, she has built a multifaceted career rooted in expressive musicianship, emotionally honest storytelling, curiosity, and a deep respect for the histories, traditions, and people that shape the music she engages with.
A four-time JazzBuffalo Female Vocalist of the Year, Alexandra has performed at leading concert halls, festivals, theatres, and cultural institutions throughout Western New York. She is a longtime collaborator with the Buffalo Jazz Collective and Historic Colored Musicians Club & Jazz Museum, a featured vocalist and concert host with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra’s Education Program, and a current member of Buffalo-based Vocalis Chamber Choir and the Toronto-based Nathaniel Dett Chorale. She leads her own jazz quartet and ensembles while regularly collaborating with musicians, composers, conductors, and artists across disciplines.
Alexandra is drawn to musical experiences that help her better understand herself and the world around her. She finds particular joy in the challenge of trying something new, exploring unfamiliar musical terrain, and learning from the people she encounters along the way. Her artistry draws from jazz, classical and choral music, theatre, soul, gospel, R&B, folk traditions, and contemporary popular music. Rather than remaining within a single genre, she is inspired by artists and musical traditions that cross boundaries, allowing seemingly different influences to coexist and inform one another.
As a performer, Alexandra is deeply interested in storytelling and the ways a song can help people feel seen, remember, reconnect, and engage more deeply with themselves and one another. Music is deeply spiritual to her, serving as a bridge between individual experience and something greater than ourselves. Whether interpreting a lyric, reshaping a melody, improvising with an ensemble, or performing her own original music, she approaches each piece with a distinctly personal perspective while honoring the history and people behind it.
As a composer, Alexandra regularly performs her original music with her jazz quartet and alongside longtime collaborators and musical colleagues, often writing with particular voices, musicians, and ensembles in mind.
Across her work as a performer, composer, educator, and collaborator, Alexandra is interested in what becomes possible when individual voices come together with curiosity, generosity, and a shared commitment to the music. She approaches each opportunity as an invitation to listen, learn, and discover, creating work that honors where music has come from while remaining open to where it might go next.


