Alan Bailey

Accomplished composer and creator with over 10 years of experience creating original music.

Proven track record of producing compelling and emotive scores that enhance narrative storytelling and engage audiences.

Collaborative team player with strong communication skills, adept at working with directors, producers, and musicians to realize a unified artistic vision.

A Future and a Hope

Ballet, 400th Anniversary of the Pilgrim Landing – Plymouth, MA, October 2020

(Performances cancelled due to Covid)

A Future and a Hope is the untold story of the sacrifice and courage of the women of the Mayflower. Of the 18 adult women who set sail on the Mayflower, only four survived until the first Thanksgiving. They sacrificed their lives for the future of the colony, for their children. Of the 27 children who landed in Plymouth, only six died during the same winter that took the women. 

This piece was commissioned by Ballet Magnificat and First Love Works. Because this story is, in many ways, the story of the birth of our national heritage, the director of Ballet Magnificat asked for this ballet to be composed as a prequel of sorts to the musical heritage of Aaron Copland. As such, I have adopted certain pitch relationships (ie. pentatonic scales, stacked 4ths), rhythmic figures, and a few short melodic quotes that are famously used by Mr. Copland, particularly in the Freedom movement. However, the bulk of the leitmotif is an adaptation of the Pilgrim Psalter and the melodies found therein. The main Pilgrim theme is the pitches from the Old Hundredth Psalm melody with a different rhythmic treatment.

For This Purpose

One-Act Musical for a Blind Man – Lynchburg, VA, May 2020

(Performances cancelled due to Covid)

For This Purpose was commissioned by Nicholas Martinez, who always wanted to do musical theater but was limited by his total blindness. It tells the story of the healing of the blind man from the Gospel of John, chapter 7, from the perspective of the blind man. The music is in the modern musical theater style with both uptempo and ballads included in the seven songs. The actor narrates the show as himself and also plays the main character.

The show is an immersive experience for the audience as they grapple with the experience of a blind person as well as the conflict inherent in the story. The stage directions call for a short period of total blackout near the beginning of the show. And although there are other characters in the musical, their voices are all off-stage. The audience experiences these characters as the main character does, as voices without faces or form.

Soli Deo Gloria

Recording Project  – Haverhill, MA, April 2016

Fisher of Men

Full-Length Musical  – Haverhill, MA, March 2015

The Song of Hosea

Full-Length Musical  – Haverhill, MA, February 2014

Esther: The Musical

Full-Length Musical  – Haverhill, MA, February 2013

Paradise Lost

One-Act Musical  – Newburyport, MA, December 2011