Alexandra Isted
Principal 1st Violin
Alexandra joined WASO in 2018.
Alex was born in Perth where she began violin lessons with WASO Emeritus musician Jacek Slawromirski. She studied at the University of Western Australia with Paul Wright, at the Australian National Academy of Music with William Hennessy and at the Royal College of Music in London, where she studied with Itzhak Rashkovsky and was awarded a Master of Music with Distinction.
She is grateful to the Friends of UWA Music and the Tait Memorial Trust, who supported her in her studies at the Royal College of Music.
During her time in London, Alex regularly worked and toured with orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of maestros such as Daniel Harding, Francoise-Xavier Roth, Fabio Luisi, Marin Alsop and Sir Simon Rattle. As well as performing in venues such as Albert Hall, Barbican Hall and Royal Festival Hall, she also enjoyed regular session work at Abbey Road Studios with the LSO, recording soundtracks such as Star Wars Battlefront 2 and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
As a soloist, Alex has won numerous competitions, including the UWA Vose Prize Concerto Competition, the Woodside Concerto Competition and the Fremantle Open Concerto Competition.
Alex loves chamber music and has performed with quartets in the Perth Festival and Melbourne International Arts Festival, and was awarded the Margaret Bello and Flora Bunning prizes for chamber music at UWA. During her Masters degree she formed the Rocamora Quartet which performed at Wigmore Hall and Cadogan Hall, as well as in venues throughout the UK and Spain.
Away from the violin, Alex enjoys painting, cooking (mostly for the eating part) and drinking nice wine (nobody likes not-nice wine).