Eliza McCarthy is a London based pianist who spends her time playing new and experimental music. Winner of the British Contemporary Piano Competition, she performs in concert halls, art galleries, theatres and living rooms across the UK, Europe and US as a soloist and band member.
She has had the great pleasure of working with, commissioning, premiering and recording works by many living composers including John Adams, Thomas Adès, George Crumb, Tansy Davies, Donnacha Dennehy, Andrew Hamilton and Laurie Spiegel. She regularly collaborates with Mica Levi (Under the Skin, Jackie) and their album ‘Slow Dark Green Murky Waterfall’ was released in 2018 on Slip. She was featured on Alex Groves’ debut EP Curved Form (No. 4) which was released in March 2019.
As an ensemble member she performs with Decibel and Ireland’s leading new music group Crash Ensemble. Decibel spearhead works by artistic director Ed Bennett and have released several albums on NMC and Diatribe Records. Crash Ensemble are committed to commissioning new music and have recently premiered and recorded works by Gerald Barry, Linda Buckley, Michael Gordon, David Lang, Nico Muhly, Terry Riley, Jennifer Walshe and Julia Wolfe amongst many others. In the summer of 2017 they performed Hans Abrahamsen’s Schnee at Aaron and Bryce Dessner's (The National) Haven Festival in Copenhagen and in 2018 at MusicNOW Festival in Cincinnati.
Alongside her life as a performer, Eliza has been a practitioner of insight meditation for 20 years and teaches Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and University of Birmingham. She has developed courses specifically designed for musicians helping them cultivate focus, re-connect with the body and develop more skillful ways of engaging with fear, anxiety and self-criticism.
She is also a professor at Guildhall School of Music and Drama teaching contemporary repertoire studies to pianists.
Spoken language: English