About

Isobel is a pianist, composer, conductor, and Opera Australia’s current Young Artist - Répétiteur.

Growing up in Brisbane, Australia, Isobel studied the clarinet, violin, and piano. She found herself transfixed by the world of classical music and couldn’t imagine doing anything else. Isobel holds a BMus in Piano Performance from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and is currently studying a Master’s of Music at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England.
Her piano mentors have included Clemens Leske, Adam Swayne, Emile Naoumoff and Simon Tedeschi.

Accepted in to the Conservatorium at the age of 15, Isobel was one of the youngest ever graduates from the University of Sydney.
During her studies, Isobel was awarded in competitions, music prizes and scholarships including the Queensland Young Pianist’s award, which she won in 2019, the Bangkok International Piano Competition, the Hon. James Thomas Walker Prize, the inaugural Doug and Margot Anthony (BUDD) Music Grant, the Gilliam Prize, the Anne Boyd AM Prize, and the Vice Chancellor’s Global Mobility Scholarship.

Isobel has featured as radio host on 2MBS Fine Music Sydney’s Jazz After Hours and Jazz Interaction programs. Her performances have been featured on ABC Classic Breakfast and 2MBS Fine Music Showcase.
Particularly involved with new classical music, Isobel is one of the founders of the chamber group Chaos Collective, and works with composers to produce new works as often as possible. Isobel is also an emerging composer and conductor. Her work focuses on a connection to the natural world and Australian identity, and draws influence from French and 20th Century composers.

Isobel has performed as pianist with the Dots+Loops festival, Queensland Youth Orchestra and George Ellis Orchestra in Sydney, and has been awarded her AmusA on both piano and clarinet.
In 2022, Isobel performed the Saint-Saëns piano concerto no. 2 with the Noosa Orchestra, and returned the following year as guest conductor. In 2023 she took part in the Cortona Sessions for New Music as both a piano fellow and conducting fellow, and joined the European-American Musical Alliance summer school in Paris.

A turning point in Isobel’s musical journey came after leaving formal study, when she found time to explore broader musical outlets like conducting and composition. That period of reflection allowed her to focus on developing her own unique musical voice, which led to Isobel travelling to the UK in 2024 to study with Adam Swayne at the Royal Northern College of Music. There she began to develop her own musical projects, like her staging of Messiaen’s mammoth song cycle Harawiin 2025 at the Anthony Burgess Foundation in Manchester.

Isobel’s debut album of solo piano music is Solaris. It features works by Messiaen, John Adams, Steve Reich and Philip Glass alongside original compositions. When not playing piano, you can find Isobel doing a crossword, reading or spending time walking through nature around her family home on the Sunshine Coast.

CV available upon request.