People / Teaching Artists

Liza Wallace

Liza Wallace brings a new dimension to the harp’s role in contemporary music, striving to expand the possibilities for this unique instrument in a variety of musical settings.  She grew up immersed in the San Francisco Bay Area’s vibrant music community and now is based in Los Angeles.  As a performer and composer, her influences include Venezuelan joropo, Brazilian choro, and Cuban son music as well as jazz and European classical genres.

Liza has released two albums of her music, Carousel in 2009 and Waken in 2013. Her latest album, soon to be released, explores the harp in Brazilian styles of music including choro, baião, and Brazilian jazz.  Liza is an active freelance musician in Los Angeles and has performed with many LA based orchestras at venues such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall and Musco Center for the Arts.  Liza has performed with such artists as Sir Elton John, Kristin Chenoweth, Gonzalo Grau, Pablo Aslan, Sylvia McNair, and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson. She is an award-winning composer and has presented her compositions at harp festivals in Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Germany.  Her most recent composition, a sonata for harp and cello entitled Al Otro Lado, was commissioned by the duo Strange Interlude and has been performed at various venues in Los Angeles over the last year.

​Liza is dedicated to her work as a harp, voice, and general music instructor.  She focuses on finding joy through musical expression and creating space for meaningful artistic exchange.  Liza holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music where she studied with Dr. Susann McDonald and Prof. Elzbieta Szmyt.  She was awarded the Performance Certificate for outstanding musicianship and performance ability. In May 2015, she completed her Master of Music degree at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music where she was the Assistant Harp Instructor to Prof. JoAnn Turovsky.  For more information about Liza’s work, please see lizawallace.com

Please visit lizawallace.com for more info!