Alex Stopa, who received both an MM and a DMA from the UNLV College of Fine Arts and currently teaches in the percussion area of the School of Music, was a two-time winner at the 49th Annual Pacific-Southwest Emmy Awards for his original composition Spiral in the categories of ‘Arts and Entertainment’ and ‘Director – Short Form Content.’

“I’m thrilled and honored to receive these awards. I hope this project helps to showcase our local arts community, and the unique talent we have here in Las Vegas,” Stopa said. Spiral is an original composition for percussion quartet that fuses classical, pop, and jazz styles. 

The piece is built around a repeated rhythmic motif: a pattern of five that can be heard on the vibraphone near the beginning of the piece.

“I imagined this spiraling pattern as the rhythmic DNA of the work; a musical double helix. This imagery formed the inspiration for the title.”

The video was shot at the Art Square Theatre in Las Vegas by a local film crew that included multiple Emmy Award-winning editor and director Michael Tushaus (Digisphere Productions), with cinematographer Tim Harbour, and camera operator Gray Gubler. The recording engineer
was Josh Connolly (Studio A), and mix engineer Robby Wingfield. This project is supported in part by the Nevada Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Pana Percussion Quartet members are Alex Stopa, Ryun Louie, Jeffery Crowell, and Eliseo Rael.