Alexa Brown spent the first part of her life in Vermillion, South Dakota before moving with her family to New Zealand (where her father’s family are from). As the daughter of a violinist she began playing at an early age, going on to complete a Bachelor’s of Music with First-Class Honours at the New Zealand School of Music, and then returning to the U.S. for a Professional Performance Certificate at Penn State University and a Master’s at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music.
Throughout the years of her studies she pursued various opportunities to share New Zealand music, performing works by Anthony Watson and Martin Lodge at the International Viola Congresses in Rotterdam and Wellington. She also shared these NZ solo viola works (and more!) throughout Houston community venues supported by a Sviatoslav Richter Outreach Award. In the orchestral realm, she was a member of Orchestra Wellington and held a fellowship position with the Auckland Philharmonia prior to moving back to the US, where she then served as co-principal viola in the local orchestras in central Pennsylvania, and later as a regular substitute with the Houston Symphony.
As an active chamber musician and occasional soloist, highlights include performing Herbert Howell’s “Elegy” with Oklahoma City’s Tactus Ensemble, appearing for a performance of “Silent City” with kamancheh player Kayhan Kalhor and members of Silk Road Ensemble, and serving as the violist of the Westheimer String Quartet.
Immediately after completing her studies she began full-time work as one of the Houston Symphony’s Community-Embedded Musicians, continuing this hybrid of outreach and symphonic viola playing until a pandemic pivot led her family to new opportunities in Omaha. Alexa is now a member of the Omaha Symphony viola section and has performed in the Omaha Chamber Music Society’s summer series for the past few years. When not playing the viola in some form, she enjoys an energetic family life with her husband and three children.