A Venezuelan native, violinist Isabel Escalante started her musical career at El Conservatorio de Música de Carabobo in Valencia. In 2003, she was granted a full scholarship at the University of Southern Mississippi where she received her Bachelor’s degree with honors in violin performance. She has received numerous awards in several competitions including 3rd place in the Emil Friedman Violin Competition and 1st place in the 2007 William T. Gower Competition. She was a semifinalist in the Sphinx Competition and the Lennox International Young Artist Competition. Ms. Escalante made her solo debut at age 9 with the Carabobo Youth Orchestra and has appeared as a soloist with the University of Southern Mississippi Orchestra.
Ms. Escalante has performed with a number of orchestras along the Southeastern coast of the U.S and the Midwest including the Sphinx, Stamford and New World Symphony Orchestras. An avid chamber musician, Ms. Escalante performs regularly with the Sphinx Virtuosi, the Magnolia Chamber Orchestra and is a founding member of ALKALI, a new groundbreaking ensemble. With a strong advocate for music education, Ms. Escalante was one of the founding teachers of the Baton Rouge Children’s Charter School string Program in Louisiana. She taught string class in the Jackson Public School System and is currently one of the violin and chamber music instructors of the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra beginner’s program, Progressions. This past May, Ms. Escalante traveled to Curacao for a two-weeklong residency to expose underprivileged children from 15 different schools to classical music for the first time.