Elizabeth Joy Roe is an internationally celebrated pianist recognized for her poetic depth, charismatic virtuosity, and boundary-defying artistry. Described as “brilliant” and “riveting” (The New York Times), “an artist to be taken seriously” (Chicago Tribune), “incisive, lyrical” (BBC Music Magazine) and “electrifying” (The Dallas Morning News), she has performed as a recitalist, orchestral soloist, duo pianist, and chamber musician across five continents, appearing at major venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Seoul Arts Center, the Esplanade (Singapore), the National Performing Arts Center (Beijing), the National Concert Hall (Taipei), Auckland Town Hall (New Zealand), Salle Cortot (Paris), the Romanian Athenaeum (Bucharest), Teatro Argentino (Buenos Aires), the New World Center (Miami), Salle Bourgie (Montréal), and the Tippet Rise Art Center (Montana). Festival appearances include the Gilmore, Ravinia, Santa Fe Chamber Music, Festpiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Banff, and Bravo! Vail festivals.
Roe’s versatile discography on the Decca Classics, Deutsche Grammophon, Sony Masterworks, and Steinway labels spans repertoire from John Field’s complete Nocturnes to the Britten and Barber concertos with the London Symphony Orchestra, as well as Billboard chart-topping duo albums as half of the groundbreaking Anderson & Roe Piano Duo. Since 2017, she has hosted the live webcasts of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, one of the most watched classical music events in the world.

This evening’s program explores the etude—a form rooted in study and technical mastery—reimagined across centuries as a vehicle for profound artistic expression. Philip Glass’s hypnotic Etude No. 2 opens with minimalist clarity, its repeating patterns both meditative and urgent. Samuel Carl Adams extends the lineage with his Etudes (2023), each a luminous sound world that transforms study into shimmering exploration of resonance, pulse, and color. Chopin elevates the etude into poetry, his A-flat major “Aeolian Harp” flowing with lyricism, and his stormy C minor a declaration of virtuosity and defiance.
After intermission, intimacy deepens with Bach’s transcription of Alessandro Marcello’s Adagio—a meditation of timeless grace—before culminating in Brahms’s passionate Sonata in F minor, Op. 120 No. 1, where classical rigor and romantic sweep combine in music of both gravitas and tenderness. Together, these works reveal how composers across eras transform exercises in craft into enduring works of art.