Liisa Pallandi

Liisa graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium in 2010 with First Class Honours where she studied with Dr Goetz Richter. She also studied at the Australian National Academy of Music with Adam Chalabi and was the first recipient of the Richard Pollett Memorial Award, which included the loan of a Pressenda violin.

After her initial year in the ACO Emerging Artist program, Liisa continued to tour regularly with both the ACO and ACO Collective before joining the ACO as a permanent member in 2015.

Liisa has performed with the Sydney, Melbourne, and Tasmanian Symphony orchestras, the Britten-Pears Orchestra in Aldeburgh and the Australian World Orchestra in their debut concerts. In 2014, Liisa was Guest Principal Violin with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra. Liisa has performed as a chamber musician in the Sydney, Melbourne and Perth Arts Festivals, as well as the Thy Chamber Music festival in Denmark. She was a founding member of the Sydney Camerata with whom she won the Musica Viva Chamber Music Award.

Liisa won the Kendall National Violin Competition in 2010, along with the Bach Prize and Audience Choice awards. Part of her prize was a viola made by Graham Caldersmith, which she has since played with the ACO and ACO Collective.

She has performed as a soloist in the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto and Arvo Pärt’s Tabula Rasa. In 2013 she undertook a Winter Music Residency at the Banff Centre where she was mentored by Henk Guittart. Receiving the Richard Pollet Memorial Scholarship from the AYO allowed her to pursue further study with Guittart in The Netherlands in 2013/14. 

Liisa currently performs on a 1759 Guadagnini violin, owned by the ACO.