Bio
[ short program bio ] [ bio ] [ history ]
Lisa Moore (piano, voice) was born in the leafy capital of Australia and has been described by The New York Times as "lustrous at the keyboard, and at once engaging and challenging" and as “legendary" in the American Record Guide. With a background in music and drama Moore combines powerful technique with vivid theatricality. She speaks, sings, acts and plays-- performing shows such as "ipiano:my brilliant career" and "the totally wired piano" which focus on a single idea or composer. Moore has developed a unique and unforgettably dramatic piano repertoire, presenting new ways of experiencing music live in concert and on recordings. New creative collaborative projects include composing and improvising for duo and trio concerts with Iva Bittova and Don Byron. Moore has premiered hundreds of new commissioned works for piano solo and ensemble. Upcoming solo commissions include new works by Annie Gosfield and Don Byron, to be premiered this season. Based in New York City for the past 23 years Moore was the founding pianist for New York's Bang on a Can All-Stars, touring worldwide and recording with them for 16 years from 1992-2008. She was recently appointed Artistic Curator of the Canberra International Chamber Music Festival Sounds Alive'08 series and will be importing over 35 musicians from around the world to Australia for this new music event in May. Her festival guest performance appearances include BBC Proms, Israel, Warsaw, Istanbul, Oslo, Lisbon, Berlin, Moscow, Uzbekistan, Dublin, Southbank, Hong Kong, Milan, Rome, Venice Biennale, Budapest, Prague, Holland, Paris d'Automne, BAM's Next Wave, Barcelona, Lincoln Center, Norfolk, Massmoca, Bang on a Can, Keys to the Future, Tanglewood, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney's Festival and Mostly Mozart. Moore has performed with the New York City Ballet, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Steve Reich Ensemble, American Composer's Orchestra, Albany Symphony, Paul Dresher Ensemble, BargeMusic, Da Capo Chamber Players, Manhattan Brass, Mabou Mines, John Jasperse Dance, Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Moore teaches at the Yale/Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and at Wesleyan University. Her 4 solo recordings are on Cantaloupe and Tall Poppies labels. 30 other chamber recordings are on Sony, Nonesuch, DG, CRI, BMG, Point, New World and New Albion. For more Moore please visit www.lisamoore.org.
Lisa Moore, piano and voice
Described by The New York Times as "lustrous at the keyboard, and at once engaging and challenging" and “legendary” in the American Record Guide, Australian Lisa Moore enjoys one of the most diverse musical careers experienced by pianists today. Based in New York City for the past 23 years and with a background in music and drama Moore creates new ways of experiencing the piano live in concert and on recordings. Combining powerful technique with vivid theatricality, her solo concerts are more than ordinary piano recitals. Moore sings, speaks, acts and plays, creating thematic programs focusing on a single idea or composer. Through her vast experience working with living composers she has developed a unique and unforgettable piano repertoire.
Lisa Moore was recently appointed Artistic Curator of the ‘Sounds Alive 08’ series, (part the Canberra International Music Festival) which will draw global musicians to the Australian capital for two weeks of experimental and new music. New creative projects include composing and improvising for duo and trio concerts with Iva Bittova and Don Byron. Ongoing solo performance adventures include ‘ipiano: my brilliant career’ featuring arrangements of songs and commissions based on folklore, dance and popular song, ranging from Scriabin and Ligeti to Randy Newman and Brain Eno. Dramatic text recitation in the unique ‘Wilde’s World’ celebrates the late 19th Century in music, text and imagery, screening paintings by Toulouse Lautrec, Monet and Beardsley, interspersed with Wilde witticisms and Frederic Rzewski's adaptation of Oscar Wilde's ‘De Profundis’. ‘The Totally Wired Piano’ highlights the piano with samplers, keyboards, voice and video. ‘Janacek from the street’ contains the composer’s evocative dark works from Moore’s acclaimed all-Janacek recording. ‘The Pianist Speaks’ features her own arrangements of theatrical works for a vocal pianist such as Martin Bresnick's 'For The Sexes: The Gates of Paradise' (text and DVD images by William Blake).
Moore has recorded 4 solo discs and over 30 collaborative recordings. Her solo discs include 'Which Side Are You On?' music by Frederic Rzewski (Cantaloupe), and three on the Tall poppies label: 'Purple, Black and Blues', a collection of piano works by Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin, the complete piano works of ‘Leos Janacek’ and 'Stroke' new Australian music. Moore’s collaborative and chamber music discs are for Sony Classical, Tall Poppies, BMG, Deutsche Grammophon, Point, Nonesuch, Cantaloupe, New Albion, New World and CRI. Future solo discs scheduled for release on Cantaloupe Music include works by Evan Ziporyn, John Halle, Don Byron, Annie Gosfield and Phil Kline.
At home in the masterworks of past and present music, and in a diverse range of musical styles, Lisa Moore has collaborated with a huge range of musicians. She was the founding pianist for the Bang On A Can All-Stars, the New-York based electro-acoustic sextet and winner of Musical America’s 2005 Ensemble of the Year Award. Moore toured worldwide with them for 16 years from 1992-2008. Besides her intensive work with Bang on a Can over the years, Lisa Moore has also guest performed with the New York City Ballet, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, BargeMusic, St. Lukes Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Steve Reich Ensemble, Don Byron Adventurers Orchestra, Da Capo Chamber Players, Paul Dresher Ensemble, Mabou Mines Theater, Susan Marshall Dance Co, Sequitur, Newband, Music at the Anthology, The Crosstown Ensemble, Australia Ensemble, Westchester Philharmonic, New York League of Composers ISCM, Newband, Alpha Centauri Ensemble, Terra Australis, Essential Music, and the John Jasperse Dance Co. As a concerto soloist she has played with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Albany, Sydney, Tasmania, Thai, Canberra Symphony Orchestras, Philharmonia Virtuosi and Queensland Philharmonic, and with conductors Reinbert de Leeuw, Pierre Boulez, Jorge Mester and Edo de Waart.
Lisa Moore's festival appearances include Holland, Lincoln Center, Schleswig-Holstein, BBC Proms, Israel, Warsaw, Uzbekistan, Musica Ficta Lithuania, Prague Spring, Istanbul, Athens, Taormina, Southbank's Meltdown, Dublin’s Crash, Graz, Huddersfield, Scotia, Paris d'Automne, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Turin, Palermo, Barcelona, Heidelberg, Berlin, Perugia, Tanglewood, Houston Da Camera, Jacob's Pillow, Aspen, Yale/Norfolk, Sandpoint, Saratoga, Victoriaville, NY's Sonic Boom, BAM Next Wave, MassMoca, Bang on a Can, Keys to the Future, Adelaide, Perth, Queensland, Canberra, Sydney, Sydney's Olympic Arts, Sydney Spring and Mostly Mozart, Brisbane Biennale, and the Darwin International Guitar Festival. Moore has collaborated with composers such as David Lang, Ornette Coleman, Don Byron, Iva Bittova, Cecil Taylor, Gunther Schuller, Milton Babbitt, Michael Gordon, Elena Kats-Chernin, Martin Bresnick, Alvin Lucier, Gerald Barry, Giovanni Sollima, Julia Wolfe, Michael Torke, Steve Reich, Phillip Glass, Terry Riley, Gerard Brophy, Peter Sculthorpe, Michael Smetanin, Iannis Xenakis and Meredith Monk among many others.
Raised in Sydney, Canberra and London, Lisa Moore had visited over a dozen countries by age 13. At 20 she moved to the USA for 2 years and following a year in Paris settled in New York City in 1985. As the recipient of many awards in 1981 Lisa Moore won silver medal in the International American Music Competition at Carnegie Hall. In 1992 she was awarded the APRA 'Sounds Australian Award' for ‘best performance of an Australian work’, and the Thayer Fellowship from the State University of New York. She has also received two Australia Council International Fellowships and the Australian Music Foundation in London Award. In 1993 Lisa Moore won "Best Australian Recording" in the ABC Fine Music Awards for her Wild Russians disc with cellist David Pereira (TP018). Lisa Moore teaches at Wesleyan University (Middletown, CT) and the Yale/Norfolk Contemporary Music Festival. She was a Visiting Associate Professor at Eastman School of Music during 2002-3 and taught at the Bang on a Can Summer Institute, Australian Youth Orchestra National Music Camp, Australian National Music Academy and has been Artist-in-Residence at the Sydney Conservatorium and the School of Creative Arts in Wollongong. For more Moore please visit www.lisamoore.org
Lisa Moore was born in Canberra, Australia in 1960, and educated in Australia, London and the USA. Here is a formal listing of her history.
Education
Doctorate of Musical Arts, State University of New York, Stonybrook,
NY, 1992
Master of Music, Eastman School of Music, Rochester NY (1984-5)
Bachelor of Music, University of Illinois (1980-82)
Private study with Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen, Paris (1982-83)
Private study with Benjamin Kaplan in London (1986)
Bachelor of Arts (Music), NSW Conservatorium of Music, Sydney (1978-80)
Teachers include: Gilbert Kalish, David Burge, Benjamin Kaplan, William
Heiles, Albert Landa, Yvonne Loriod, Larry Sitsky
Awards
Australia Council Development Grant American Academy In Berlin
(2001)
Australia Council Development Grant American Academy In Rome (1999)
Australian Broadcasting Corporation Award for 'Best Australian Recording' (Wild
Russians) (1993)
Sounds Australian award: 'best performance of an Australian work' (1992)
Thayer Fellowship, creative arts grant awarded to SUNY graduate (1992)
Concerto Competition winner, SUNY Stonybrook (1987)
Composer Commission Grants from Australia Council (1986-91)
Bernstein Fellowship, Tanglewood Music Center (1985)
Australian Music Foundation in London Award (1984-86)
Alliance Francaise Scholarship for studies in Paris (1982-83)
International Fellowship, Australia Council, for studies in USA (1981,1982)
Silver Medal, Carnegie Hall International American Music Competition (1981)
Concerto Appearances
soloist with: Sydney Symphony (Reinbert de Leeuw, Jorge Mester), Albany Symphony
(Geoffrey
Simon), Australian Chamber Orchestra (Richard Tognetti), Philharmonia
Virtuosi (Richard Kapp), Queensland Philharmonic (Richard Mills),
Tasmania Symphony (Dobbs Frank), Canberra Symphony (Leonard Dommett),
Thai National Orchestra (Johannes Roos), Stonybrook Graduate Orchestra
(Arthur Weisberg), Wollongong Symphony Orchestra (John Dixon)
Solo Concerts (selected)
1981 debut in Carnegie Hall, (for International American Music
Competition).
Solo concerts in Paris, Berlin, New York, Rome, Sydney, Chicago,
Melbourne, Brisbane, Townsville, Newcastle, Adelaide, Rochester,
Stonybrook, Tampa, Miami, Canberra, Wollongong, San Diego, San
Francisco, Champaign-Urbana, Bennington VT, Columbia SC, Vancouver BC festivals
Tanglewood, Aspen, Norfolk, Sandpoint, Lincoln Center, Adelaide,
Warsaw, Israel, Lithuania, Sydney Festival, Sydney Spring, Sydney
Olympica Arts, Jacob's Pillow, Huddersfield, Holland Festival, Paris
d'Automne, IRCAM, Sydney's Mostly Mozart, June in Buffalo,
Victoriaville, Scotia, Bang On A Can, Houston International,
Southbank's Meltdown, Turin, Sonic Boom, Taormina, Palermo, BAM Next
Wave, Lisbon, Wien Modern, Darmstadt, Queensland Biennale, Huntington
NSW, Lanzerote, Uzbekistan, Other Minds San Francisco, Barbican, Perth,
Hong Kong, MassMoca
Chamber Music and Ensembles
Bang On A Can All-Stars (founding member since 1992), Da Capo
Chamber
Players (1995-2002), Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, Paul Dresher
Ensemble, Steve Reich Ensemble, Newband, BargeMusic, American Composers
Orchestra, Cassatt String Quartet, Rothko Piano Trio, Alpha Centauri
Ensemble, Essential Music, Musical Elements, Abandon, Terra Australis,
Stonybrook Contemporary Players, The Australia Ensemble, Michael Gordon
Philharmonic, Twentieth Century Music Group, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra,
Chamber Players of the ISCM, Guild of Composers NY, Columbia Composers,
Speculum Musicae, collaborative concerts with cellist Maya Beiser,
cellist David Pereira, cellist Wendy Sutter, violinist Eva Gruesser,
violinist Joanna Lewis, french hornist Hector McDonald
Orchestral Piano
The New York City Ballet, Philharmonia Virtuosi (Richard Kapp),
Sydney
Symphony (Edo de Waart), Scotia Festival Orchestra (Pierre Boulez),
Tanglewood Festival Orchestra (Leonard Bernstein), Northeastern
Philharmonic(Hugh Wolf), Harrisburg Symphony (Larry Newland), Fairfield
Chamber Orchestra, Westchester Philharmonic(Paul Dunkel), St. Lukes
Orchestra (Ransom Wilson), American Composers Orchestra (Sloan, Cortese, Dunkel)
Solo Recordings
'which side are you on?' music of Frederic Rzewski, Cantaloupe
Music
'Janacek' complete piano music, Tall Poppies (TP066)
'Purple, Black and Blues', music of Elena Kats-Chernin (TP147)
'Stroke' music from Australia (TP040)
'Elevated' CD/DVD featuring 'Wed' by David Lang, Cantaloupe Music
James Sellars 'Piano Works', Sonata no.6: Patterns on a Field, CRI
DVD
For the Sexes: The Gates of Paradise, The Essential Martin Bresnick, Cantaloupe Music
Ensemble Recordings
The Essential Martin Bresnick, w/Bang on a Can All-Stars, Cantaloupe Music
‘Elida’ Iva Bittova and Boac All-Stars, Cantaloupe Music
‘My Twentieth Century’ chamber music by Martin Bresnick, New World Records
'Music in 5ths', music by Phillip Glass, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Cantaloupe Music
'Bang on a Can meets Kyaw Kyaw Naing', Bang on a Can, KKN, Cantaloupe Music
'Shadowbang', Evan Ziporyn music, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Cantaloupe Music
'The Wild Russians' w/David Pereira, cello, Shostakovitch and
Schnittke Sonatas, TP
'Prokofiev and Carter' w/David Pereira, cello, TP
'Gigantic Human Dancing Machine' Louis Andreissen, Cantaloupe Music
'Cheating, Lying, Stealing' Bang On a Can All-Stars, Sony Classical
'Renegade Heaven' Bang On A Can All-Stars, Cantaloupe Music
'Music For Airports' Bang On A Can All-Stars, Point Records
'Industry' Bang On A Can All-Stars, Sony Classical
'In C' Bang On A Can, Cantaloupe Music
'City Life' Steve Reich and Musicians, Nonesuch
'A Set of Pieces, Music of Charles Ives', Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Gilbert
Kalish, DG
'Classical Jukebox' Philharmonia Virtuosi, Richard Kapp conductor, BMG
'Big Noise from Nicaragua' music by Michael Gordon, CRI
'Aquilarco' Giovanni Sollima, Giovanni Sollima Band, Point Records
'100 Greatest Hits' by Aaron Kernis, New Albion
'Sheila Silver' chamber music, CRI
Conducting
Norfolk Contemporary Music Ensemble 2005
Greenway Group Sydney Conservatorium 1993
Published Articles
‘The Thrill of the New’ Piano Today, winter 2005
‘The Pianist Speaks’Australian Financial Review, July 8 2005
Film Music
Music director and performer for "Charles Blackman, Dreams
and Shadows"",
art documentary by RM Films,Australia.
Pianist for "Cadillac Desert", PBS, John Else director
Music producer and pianist for Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet, PBS,
Michael Schwartz director
Miscellaneous Performances and Experience
Visiting Fellow at New College, Oxford, Hillary Term spring 2004.
New Music New Haven, Roulette, Knitting Factory, Music at the
Anthology, The Kitchen , Princeton Composers Concerts, NJ, Producer of
'Keyboard Gala Extravaganza' for opening night of Rutgers 'Summerfest'
1990, Wija Balinese puppet theater at MassMoca and MIT, Lecture
'Dialogue with Nature' on 19th Century Australian and American
landscape painting and relationships to music at Corcoran Gallery of
Art, Washington DC.
Teaching Experience
Music Faculty, Wesleyan University, Middletown CT 2004-present
Bang On A Can Summer Institute, MassMoca, North Adams MA 2002-4.
Visiting Associate Professor , 2002-3, Eastman School of Music
(piano
lessons, masterclasses, and Arts Leadership Course: Janacek, Ligeti,
Rzewski and beyond)
Masterclasses at Eastman School of Music, Crane School of Music,
University of South Carolina, Victorian College of Arts Melbourne,
University of Miami, Coral Gables, SUNY Stonybrook, Bard College,
Westminister College, PA (1996-2001)
Australian Youth Orchestra National Music Camp (2001, 2004)
Australian National Academy of Music, Melbourne, residency (1998, 2005)
Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, contemporary music summer sessions (1997, 1998, 2004)
Marymount College, Tarrytown, NY, piano, chamber music (1989-1997)
Hoff-Barthelson Music School, Scarsdale NY, piano faculty (1988-1997)
NSW Conservatorium of Music, Sydney, Australia, artist-in-residence
piano, chamber music coaching, lectures , concerts, conducting (1992,93)
University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia, artist-in-residence, piano,
chamber music, lectures, concerts (1991)
Private lessons in New York since 1988