Marianthi Papalexandri-Alexandri (b.1974) is a composer and sound artist based in Switzerland and the United States. By interweaving the borders between sound and visual objects, Papalexandri creates works of simplicity, elegance, and personal charisma. She is especially interested in how resonant surfaces and friction work and how physical materials can be arranged to act like living things.

Papalexandri’s sculptural installations and compositions have been presented internationally at institutions such as the Museum Haus Konstruktiv in Zurich; Martin Gropius Bau in Berlin; Kunstmuseum Basel; MuDA Museum of Digital Art in Zurich; Ashmolean Museum in Oxford; Museum of Musical Instruments in Berlin; ISEA, Hong Kong; Tokyo Art Fair; Japan Art Media; Art Taipei; Gallery Denise Rene in Paris; Mazzoli Gallery in Berlin; Anhava Gallery in Helsinki; Standing Pine Gallery in Nagoya; ARCO Madrid; Kunstmuseum Stuttgart; Kunsthal Aarhus Biennale Disegno in Rimini; the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne; Otto Sound Museum in Zurich; Donaueschingen Festival/Museum Art.Plus, Germany; the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca, USA; the Otto Sound Museum, Switzerland; and the Venice Biennale of Architecture.

Papalexandris's work is represented in private collections, the EMMA, Finland's Espoo Museum of Modern Art, the Functional Genomics Center Zürich (FGCZ), University of Zurich (UZH), and ETH Zurich, Kanton of Zurich. The recipient of the Aurelie Nemours Award, the Werkbeiträge des Kantons Zürich im Bereich Bildende Kunst award, the Dan David Prize for Contemporary Music, the International IMPULS Composition Award, the Berlin Kulturelle Angelegenheiten Award, the Cornell Biennial Award 2020 among other. Papalexandri has been honored with numerous grants from ProHelvetia, the Ernst von Siemens Foundation, the Ministry of Science and Art, Baden-Württemberg, the Irish Arts Council Grant, the Swedish Arts Council, and the City of Berlin, among others. Papalexandri was nominated as artist-in-residence at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart; the EMS studio in Stockholm; the Villa Concordia in Bamberg; the Cluster of Excellence Image Knowledge Gestaltung, an interdisciplinary lab at the Humboldt-University of Berlin; the Instrument Inventors Institute in The Hague, and St. John's College at the University of Oxford.

Music by Papalexandri has been commissioned and premiered worldwide by ensembles and soloists such as Neue Vocalsolisten, Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Surplus, Ensemble Mosaik, Chamber Curious Players, Yarn/Wire, Ensemble Dal Niente, Ensemble Scenatet, Tace(ti), the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Container Ensemble, the Wet Ink Ensemble, the London Improvisers Orchestra, the Hellenic Ensemble of Contemporary Music, Ensemble dissonArt, Hidden Mother, Ensemble This/Ensemble That, Karin Hellqvist, Ross Karre, Steven Schick, Justin Dehart, Rhodri Davies, Ernst Surberg, Erik Drescher, Séverine Ballon, amongst
others. Her music has been featured in major festivals and venues such as the Donaueschingen Festival; MaerzMusik Festival, Berlin; the ISCM World Music Days, Stuttgart; Ultrashall, Berlin; ZKM, Karlsruhe; impuls, Graz; De Bijloke, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco; Elbphilharmonie Hamburg; Dialogue Festival, Salzburg; Carlsbad Music Festival, Los Angeles; ECLAT Festival, Stuttgart; SPOR Festival, Aarhus; Audiograft Festival, Oxford; Concertgebouw Brugge; Athens Concert Hall; Tzlil Meudcan Festival, Tel Aviv; Darmstadt; Gaudeamus Festival, Amsterdam; Issue Project Room, New York; Wien Modern and MATA New York. From
1999 to 2009, she was an active improviser, performing with Eddie Prevost, Simon Vincent, Rob Wannamaker, John Lely, Sebastian Lexer, and Steve Beresford.

Papalexandri holds a Ph.D. in Music Composition from the University of California, San Diego, where her principal mentors were Chaya Czernowin and Rand Steiger. She is an Associate Professor of Composition and Sound Art in the Music Department at Cornell University.