Pianist ELIZABETH JOY ROE has been hailed “brilliant” (The New York Times), “an artist to be taken seriously” (The Chicago Tribune), “impressive” (BBC Radio), “a mature, fascinating interpreter and an artist of intelligence, insight, and a genuine grace” (The Southampton Press), and “electrifying” (The Dallas Morning News), and she was named one of the classical music world’s “Six on the Rise: Young Artists to Watch” by Symphony Magazine. The recipient of the prestigious William Petschek Piano Debut Recital Award, she has appeared as orchestral soloist, recitalist, and collaborative musician at major venues worldwide, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Seoul Arts Center, the National Performing Arts Center (Beijing), the Ravinia Festival (Chicago), Salle Cortot (Paris), Teatro Argentino (Buenos Aires), the Esplanade (Singapore), the Adrienne Arsht Center (Miami), the Banff Centre (Canada), and the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Germany).
Ms. Roe’s multifaceted career includes performance broadcasts on the BBC, KBS, NPR, and PBS; new music premieres; and a diverse range of artistic projects and collaborations. A recording artist for Decca Classics, her latest album (released in May 2016) is of the complete Nocturnes by John Field, and her previous album of the Britten and Barber Piano Concertos with the London Symphony Orchestra was released to critical acclaim. Her discography also comprises a solo album, Images Poetiques (Universal Classics/Deutsche Grammophon), and four piano duo albums, of which When Words Fade (Steinway Label) spent over a dozen weeks at the top of the Billboard classical chart. An avid chamber musician, she has collaborated with an array of esteemed artists, including violinist Daniel Hope, violist Richard O’Neill, cellist Ralph Kirshbaum, the Parker Quartet, and jazz pianist Shelly Berg; she is also a member of Decoda (the first ever Affiliate Ensemble of Carnegie Hall) and Trio Ariadne (ensemble-in-residence at the Green Music Center in California). Most notably, she co-founded the groundbreaking Anderson & Roe Piano Duo, whose concerts, compositions, social media presence, and Emmy-nominated music videos (viewed by millions on YouTube) have captivated audiences around the globe. Additional career highlights include the PBS broadcast of “Jazz & the Philharmonic” (in which she performed alongside jazz legends Bobby McFerrin, Chick Corea, and more); the Carnegie Hall premiere of Messiaen’s Visions de l’Amen for the composer’s centennial celebration, hosted by Pierre Boulez; performance presentations for the United Nations and at various international leadership symposia, including the EG Conference, Chicago Ideas Week, and La Ciudad de las Ideas; and an artistic residency sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Argentina.
Ms. Roe made her concerto debut in 1997 with the Chicago Philharmonic, eliciting critical acclaim fromThe Chicago Tribune’s John Von Rhein: “Elizabeth Joy Roe supplied scintillation in the Grieg [Concerto] … A lot of pianists play the Grieg but not many adults twice the age of Miss Roe could make this familiar score sing so poetically or with such spontaneity.” She has since appeared with the Hartford, Tucson, Santa Fe, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Waco, Winnipeg, Chautauqua, Corpus Christi, Lubbock, and Ars Viva Symphony Orchestras; the Juilliard Orchestra; the Calgary and Seongnam Philharmonic Orchestras; the Indianapolis and Milwaukee Chamber Orchestras; and members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, among others. In 2003, she stepped in on short notice to replace the late John Browning for subscription performances of the Barber Piano Concerto (Browning’s signature work) with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra; The Delaware News Journal pronounced her pianism as “astonishing” and “stunning.”
Committed to arts advocacy, Ms. Roe was one of the inaugural fellows of The Academy—a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and The Weill Music Institute. As part of this professional fellowship, she performed regularly at Carnegie Hall with Ensemble ACJW, taught at PS 131Q in Queens, and co-directed the Children’s Music Campaign NYC. In recognition of her educational and leadership endeavors, she was awarded the McGraw-Hill Companies’ Robert Sherman Award for Music Education and Community Outreach. She has also held faculty positions at Smith College as Visiting Artist and Lecturer in Music and at Sonoma State University as Weill Hall Artist-in-Residence.
A Chicago native, Ms. Roe was 13 years old when she won the grand prize at the IBLA International Piano Competition in Italy. Throughout her career she has received honors from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, the Music for Youth Foundation, the National Association for Professional Asian Women, and the Samsung Foundation of Culture. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School as a full scholarship student, graduating with Scholastic Distinction for her thesis on representations of music in the fiction of Thomas Mann, Marcel Proust, and E.M. Forster. A Steinway Artist and Soros Fellow, Ms. Roe’s mission is to connect with others through the inspiration, joy and essential humanity of music.