Eliza McCarthy

After hearing Eliza McCarthy’s performance of his Phrygian Gates, the composer John Adams remarked: “It is miraculous that someone so young can play my music so well....astonishing!”

These were encouraging words for the Philadelphia-born pianist who is part of that classical music clan who specialize in performing 20..th.. century and contemporary compositions.

Eliza’s dedication to understanding the wide ranging influences and staying true to the subtle styles in contemporary music have led her to study West African dance and drumming in The Gambia and more recently traditional Gamelan and Balinese dance in Indonesia. 

Eliza began her musical training playing piano and flute in the U.S with Russian teachers Nelly Berman and Oleg Maslov. She developed her pianistic integrity at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, after graduating from the Yehudi Menuhin School where she studied with Ruth Nye. Her teachers at the Guildhall were Ronan O’Hora and Paul Roberts for her Bachelor in Music and Rolf Hind for her Masters in Contemporary Music Performance and her subsequent Artists Fellowship in 2009. She has taken Master classes, and worked with, John Adams, George Crumb, Nicolai Demidenko, Byron Janis, James MacMillan, Stephen Montague, Sarah Nicolls, Noriko Ogawa, Andras Schiff, Daniel Stroup, Harvey Wedeen and Judith Weir. In 2008 Eliza was won a place as a Park Lane Group Young Artist and has performed as a soloist at venues such as Barbican Hall, Purcell Room, Roundhouse, Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, St. Martin in the Fields, Sounds New Contemporary Music Festival and Steinway Hall, London presented by the Keyboard Charitable Trust.

Most recently she worked closely with Oscar winning composer Dario Marianelli performing original music in Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie directed by Joe Hill-Gibbins at the Young Vic theatre, London.

Alongside her commitments as a soloist, Eliza is a member of Jetsam. Formed in Singapore in 2008, they are a six piece ensemble who create and perform original and commissioned works as well as contemporary repertoire. With backgrounds in classical music, dance/electronica and songwriting, the band's recent performances have included works by George Crumb, Fred Rzewski, Stephen Montague, Louis Andriessen and Trent Reznor as well as new works inspired by time spent in South East Asia, Africa, Somerset and France. Last year Jetsam was the ensemble in residence at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. They have recently completed a work commissioned by the Barbican for the critically acclaimed street dance company Boy Blue and in May 2011 they will perform in collaboration with Bang on a Can All-Stars and Steve Reich at the Barbican Centre.

John Adams’ astonishment aside, Eliza McCarthy is an artist who is determined to get inside the skin of contemporary music and bring it alive to those for whom she performs.