Alexander Arai-Swale

Alexander began taking cello lessons at the age of six, but it was not until the end of high school that he started paying any attention to his teachers. Whilst completing his degree at the University of Waikato (NZ), Alexander set off with his cello quartet to the United Kingdom and toured for two months as a recipient of the 2014 Pettman/Royal Over-Seas League ARTS International Chamber Music Scholarship. There, he performed in venues such as St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and Royal Over-Seas House in Edinburgh as a part of the Fringe Festival.

Although for a couple of years Alexander had been receiving lessons on the side with Hiroshi Ikematsu, in 2015 he formally changed his major to double bass performance and began having monthly lessons with Joan Perarnau-Garriga. In his first year of being at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM), he was a finalist in the ANAM Concerto Competition, where he was awarded the Audience Prize after performing with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Johannes Fritzsch. He was also short-listed out of past and present ANAM musicians to audition for a position at the Berlin Philharmonic’s Karajan Academy. Alexander subsequently received the St. Silas ANAM Achievement Award for the best first year musician.

In 2017, Alexander looks forward to continuing his studies at ANAM under the guidance of Damien Eckersley.