Biography

New York-based Australian musician Lisa Moore is a multifaceted pianist, recording artist, and avid collaborator. Her playing combines lyricism and virtuosity with expressive and emotional power – whether in the delivery of the simplest song, a solo recital, a concerto, or a fiendish chamber score. Given a special passion for the music of our time, Moore has performed hundreds of commissioned works and world premieres – having worked with more than two hundred living composers while residing and collaborating in the vibrant new music scene of New York City since 1985. Described as “brilliant and searching… beautiful and impassioned…lustrous at the keyboard” by The New York Times, Lisa Moore’s performances combine music and theatre with expressive and emotional power – whether in the delivery of the simplest song, a solo recital or a fiendish chamber score. Pitchfork writes “She’s the best kind of contemporary classical musician, one so fearsomely game that she inspires composers to offer her their most wildly unplayable ideas”.

Born in Australia and raised in Canberra, London, and Sydney, Lisa Moore has lived in the USA since 1980. Based in New York City since 1985, she has released twelve solo discs (Cantaloupe, Orange Mountain Music, Irreverence Group Music, Tall Poppies, Bandcamp) with music ranging from Leoš Janáçek to Philip Glass, in addition to individual tracks on Bandcamp. Gramophone writes of her 2015 Mad Rush Philip Glass disc (Orange Mountain) “what becomes abundantly clear from listening to almost any bar on this recording is Moore’s highly developed, intuitive and nuanced approach to this music, one which has been allowed to evolve and refine over a number of years”. Her 2016 CD The Stone People (Cantaloupe), featuring the music of John Luther Adams, Martin Bresnick, Missy Mazzoli, Kate Moore, Frederic Rzewski, and Julia Wolfe, made The New York Times Top Classical Albums of 2016 and the 2017 Naxos Critics’ Choice. Lisa has recorded over thirty collaborative discs (Sony, Nonesuch, DG, BMG, New World, ABC Classics, Albany, New Albion, Starkland, Harmonia Mundi). Her  Steve Reich Music for Eighteen Musicians (Harmonia Mundi) with Ensemble Signal made The New York Times Top Classical Albums of 2015 list.  In June 2022, Moore released her second album of music by Frederic Rzewski – no place to go but around – to compelling notice. The New York Times remarked the album is “meticulous…clever…hits the gas with controlled force” with “a greater range of emotion than other interpreters.”

For sixteen years (92-08) Moore was the founding pianist for the award-winning electro-acoustic sextet Bang On A Can All-Stars. She has performed with leading artists and ensembles – Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, Ornette Coleman, Thurston Moore, Iva Bittova, Bryce Dessner, London Sinfonietta, Steve Reich Ensemble, New York City Ballet, American Composers Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center – appearing in festivals throughout the world. 

Lisa Moore is a Steinway Artist.

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