Louisa West

Louisa West was born in Thomasville, Georgia in 1979 and began playing flute at the age of ten. Louisa holds a Bachelor of Music Performance from the University of Georgia. While studying there, she performed in numerous ensembles, including an orchestra conducted by the legendary Sammy Nestico. She studied privately with highly acclaimed classical flutists, including Angela Jones-Reus, William Bennett, Mary Karen Clardy, and Mimi Stillman, as well as jazz flutists Nestor Torres and Holly Hofmann. She has been a winner of a number of competitions, including the Florida Flute Association Young Artist Competition in 1999 and the 2009 National Flute Association Jazz Master Class Competition with Lew Tabachin. After graduating from college in 2001, she relocated to southern California where she has been performing in a wide variety of musical situations, including world music, jazz, latin jazz, and classical musicians. She has performed extensively in the U.S as well as Canada and Mexico. She has also appeared onstage with touring acts such as Persian pop star Shakila, flutist Nestor Torres, and brazilian singer Diogo Nogueira. Louisa recently attended California Brazil Camp, where she had the opportunity to attend workshops and performances by great brazilian jazz artists. This experience, along with being introduced to great historical brazilian jazz recordings proved to be a major source of inspiration in her musical life.

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