About the Artists

Lisa Moore

Described by The New York Times as "lustrous at the keyboard, and at once engaging and challenging" and “the phenomenal pianist” in The Village Voice, Australian Lisa Moore enjoys one of the most diverse musical careers experienced by pianists today. She was recently appointed artistic director of the ‘Sounds Alive’ series in the 2008 Canberra International Chamber Music Festival which will draw global artists to the Australian capital for two weeks of experimental and new music.

Based in New York City and with a background in music and drama Moore has dedicated much of her life to creating new ways of experiencing the piano live in concert and as a recording artist. Combining powerful technique with vivid theatricality, her solo concerts are more than ordinary piano recitals. Moore creates thematic programs focusing on a single idea or composer and through her vast experience working with living composers she has developed a unique and unforgettable piano repertoire.

Recent solo artistic ventures include piano with dramatic text recitation in ‘Wilde’s World’, a program featuring late 19th Century repertoire and Frederic Rzewski's adaptation of Oscar Wilde's ‘De Profundis’. ‘Janacek from the street’ features the composer’s evocative dark works from Moore’s acclaimed Janacek recording. ‘The Pianist Speaks’ program features DVD image projection in Martin Bresnick's 'For The Sexes: The Gates of Paradise' (text and images by William Blake). ‘ipiano’ features works based on folklore, dance and popular song, ranging from Scriabin to Ligeti. 2005-6 world premiere performances by Paul Lansky, John Halle and Bryan Senti have received rave reviews in New York and Australia, while she awaits the arrival of ongoing composer commissions including Donnacha Dennehy, Phil Kline, Don Byron, Annie Gosfield and David Lang.

At home in the masterworks of past and present music, and in a diverse range of musical styles, Moore has also collaborated with a huge range of ensembles and soloists. Apart from her work as the founding pianist for Bang On a Can All-Stars, she will appear in the world premiere of Steve Reich’s Daniel Variations at the Barbican this coming October with the Steve Reich Ensemble. Recent past highlights include the premiere of a new piano concerto Mysterium Cosmographicum (winner 2006 APRA award for Best Australian Work) by Australian Michael Smetanin with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra conducted by Reinbert De Leeuw in 2005 and performing music by Edvard Grieg in Ibsen’s ‘A Dollhouse’ directed by Lee Breuer and Mabou Mines Theatre Company.

Moore has recorded 4 solo discs and over 25 collaborative recordings. Future solo discs scheduled for future release on Cantaloupe Music include works by John Halle, Don Byron, Annie Gosfield and Phil Kline. Her solo discs thus far 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. In 1993 Moore won "Best Australian Recording" in the ABC Fine Music Awards for her Wild Russians disc with cellist David Pereira (TP018).

Moore is 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. She has been touring worldwide with them since their inception in 1992. Moore has also 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 Moore 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, Jacob's Pillow, Aspen, Yale/Norfolk, Sandpoint, Saratoga, Victoriaville, NY's Sonic Boom, BAM Next Wave, MassMoca, 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, 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, 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’, 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. 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 in residence at New College, Oxford during the Hilary Term 2004. Moore has also taught at the Bang on a Can Summer Institute, Australian Youth Orchestra National Music Camp, Australian National Music Academy in Melbourne and has held Artist-in-Residence positions at the Sydney Conservatorium and the School of Creative Arts in Wollongong.

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