Alexandra Whittingham

Alexandra Whittingham stands out among guitarists for performances that have reached audiences across many nations, leading to a recording contract secured while she was still in her early twenties. The release of her first album, My European Journey, showcased an uncommon selection of works.

Born on May 15, 1997, in Manchester, England, Whittingham grew up there. Her father’s amateur guitar playing prompted her to begin lessons at the age of five. After advancing quickly through instruction at her neighborhood primary school, she entered Manchester’s Chetham’s School of Music at eleven. While at the school she took part in numerous ensembles and traveled through Germany and the Czech Republic with the Wigan Youth Jazz Orchestra; hearing a teacher perform Spanish guitar music, however, drew her toward the classical instrument.

She went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London, completing her degree with first-class honors, receiving the Timothy Gilson Guitar Prize, and earning a Licentiate qualification. She remains enrolled there for a master’s degree. A series of competition successes furthered her career: she captured the inaugural Edinburgh Guitar Competition in 2013, was named Gregynog Young Guitarist of the Year in 2015, and reached the finals of Denmark’s Aalborg International Guitar Competition.

Recitals have taken her to County Hall and Milton Court Concert Hall in London as well as Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall. Appearances at venues and festivals across continental Europe and the United States have included France’s Festival Le Temps des Guitares, and she has performed concertos with the Dorset Chamber Orchestra and the Gorton Philharmonic Orchestra. Her videos posted online have accumulated more than 26 million views.

Signed to the Delphian label, Whittingham devised My European Journey during Britain’s COVID lockdown and issued the album in May 2021. It presented atypical repertory for a debut, encompassing nineteenth-century pieces drawn from various European countries.