Alexandra Whittingham Unveils Letters from Paris: A Personal Tribute to French Music
British classical guitarist Alexandra Whittingham will release her new album Letters From Paris on 3 October 2025 on Decca Classics. The album is a celebration of French music and a tribute to the country in which her performing career began.
Already one of the most-watched classical guitarists in the world, Alexandra has more than 65 million views across YouTube and social media. Her viral video revealing the classical roots of the Nokia ringtone has been viewed over 12 million times on Instagram alone. Known for her engaging online presence and expressive playing, she is fast becoming one of the most exciting young classical artists in the UK.
Last month, Alexandra made her Royal Albert Hall debut at Classic FM Live: At the Movies. Her performance of La Vie en Rose, arranged by Laura Snowden, was a standout moment of the evening and features on the new album in a special studio recording.
From Édith Piaf’s La Foule, a song about two lovers united then separated by a crowd, to Hymne à l’amour, recorded six months after the death of Piaf’s lover Marcel Cerdan, this album captures both the thrill of romance and the heartbreak of parting.
Alexandra has a strong personal connection to southwest France, where her journey as a soloist began. At 19, she gave her first professional recital at a guitar festival in the village of Puy-l’Évêque. Her parents joined her, and the trip became a special family holiday. They fell in love with the region and later bought the presbytery next to the church where she performed. Since then, Alexandra has spent a lot of time in France and built close ties with the local music community, including the guitar and cello festivals in the Lot region. She recalls: “France is where it all started for me.”
Other highlights include Roland Dyens’s arrangement of Erik Satie’s Gnossienne No. 1, a piece which feels at once ancient yet totally modern, and Julian Bream’s arrangement of Debussy’s La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin. The album also features Danse Rythmique by Ida Presti, Alexandra’s personal guitar heroine, and Chanson in B minor by Francis Kleynjans, where the guitar sings with tender simplicity.
In a newly commissioned arrangement of Reynaldo Hahn’s L’heure Exquise, Jess Gillam’s saxophone leaps to life with delicate melodies. Hahn’s waltz also appears in a duo with fellow guitarist Stephanie Jones. Elsewhere, Alexandra duets with Margarita Balanas on Fauré’s Romance sans Paroles and Barbara Pravi’s Voilà (which secured France 2nd place in the 2021 Eurovision song contest), both arranged by her former teacher Michael Lewin.
The album visits the cabarets and fêtes of French life, with Paul Durand’s Mademoiselle de Paris and Yann Tiersen’s La Valse d’Amélie from Amélie. Alexandra also includes She by Charles Aznavour, arranged by Stephen Goss, a song once championed by Piaf and a chart-topping hit in the UK.
Raised in Greater Manchester, Alexandra began playing guitar at the age of six, taught by her father. She won a scholarship to Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Academy of Music, graduating with first-class honours and a master’s distinction. Her mix of classical training and digital creativity has helped her build a wide global audience.
Classic FM has praised her as “a young artist with huge potential to shape the classical world”, while The Guardian has described her as “a young 21st-century virtuoso”.
Speaking about the album, Alexandra said:
“I’m incredibly excited to release this album. This is a project I’ve had in mind for so long, and it’s been such a lot of fun being able to realise these ideas whilst collaborating with such great friends and musicians. I’ve always loved pairing music by popular household names alongside composers that might be less well-known outside of the guitar world, and this record does exactly that.”
After a sold-out European noisenights tour in 2024, Alexandra will tour the UK this summer with Through the Noise joined by fellow classical guitarist and multi-award-winning soloist Stephanie Jones, making her noisenight debut. The tour will include Strange Brew, Bristol (16 June), The Bullingdon, Oxford (17 June), The Globe, Cardiff (18 June), OSLO Hackney, London (20 June), Faith In Strangers, Margate (22 June), Norwich Arts Centre, Norwich (24 June), Hare & Hounds, Birmingham (25 June), Sidney & Matilda, Sheffield (26 June), Rescue Rooms, Nottingham (28 June).
