Liz Knowles

Liz Knowles’ fascination with music has always been rooted in how one can arrive, land, and leave a note. Liz’s early foundations on the violin were grounded in classical music but while living in New York City, she began to explore other genres, performing with such artists as Marcus Roberts, The Bang-on-a-Can Orchestra, Bobby McFerrin, Paula Cole, Steve Reich, Eliot Goldenthal, Rachel Barton, and Don Henley. Through these explorations, Irish traditional music emerged as the most resonant musical language for her and she has since established herself as a dynamic performer and recording artist in Irish traditional music as fiddler for Riverdance, a member of Cherish the Ladies, The String Sisters, and The Martin Hayes Quartet, and with her trio, Open the Door for Three. She was featured as soloist on the film soundtrack for “Michael Collins”, performed on Broadway with “The Pirate Queen” and has been a featured soloist with many orchestras across America, including The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall and the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center. Her compositions and arrangements of tunes and songs have been recorded and performed by artists around the world and she has acted as music director and producer for several international stage shows and recording projects including collaborations with such institutions such as the Art Institute of Chicago, University of Notredame and the University of Toronto. In addition to serving on the faculty at the New England Conservatory, she has an active online teaching schedule of lessons, seminars, and presentations on various topics, some of which have been presented by organizations such as New York’s Irish Arts Center, and Music Network Ireland and is a highly sought after teacher in the Irish music world both here in the United States and abroad. She writes a bi-monthly newsletter, LizNotes, and produces a podcast with fiddler Liz Carroll called The Lizzes.