We are absolutely thrilled to announce our Hatched Academy Associate Artist for 2022, Eliza Shephard! Out of an impressive collection of applicants, Eliza’s dedication and ambition through her chosen medium of the flute, particularly spoke to our selection panel. Eliza is a confident and established performer in a wide range of styles, and is known for her ‘fiery’ presence on stage, capturing audience’s attention throughout her performances.
Eliza’s passions also align strongly with our core values at Ensemble Offspring. She writes “I respect Ensemble Offspring’s continuous quest to celebrate the music of our time…I’m a strong believer in commissioning new works, and I’m in the midst of commissioning five works from five Australian female composers to celebrate and honour the time that I had with my five female flute teachers…”
We extend our warmest congratulations to Eliza as we welcome her into the Ensemble Offspring family. We can’t wait to start performing with her and hopefully you’ll get to met her in person soon too!
FIVE QUESTIONS GETTING TO KNOW ELIZA SHEPHARD
Q: What are you looking forward to most as EO’s 2022 Hatched Academy Associate Artist?
A: I’m most looking forward to the opportunity of collaborating with artists whose music I’ve admired for several years, and to perform and present concerts in thoughtful and engaging ways as EO’s 2022 Associate Artist.
Q: Where were you born and where do you currently live?
A: I was born in Wagga Wagga, NSW. I moved to boarding school in Canberra and completed my Bachelor of Music there, and now I live in Melbourne, studying at ANAM most recently.
Q: Who is your favourite Aussie composer and why?
A: I only get to choose one?? I’m constantly finding new Australian music that moves to “first place” in my mind. My musical interests are endlessly shifting and so my answer today may be different tomorrow… I don’t think I can single out one name!
Q: What is your favourite Ensemble Offspring content?
A: I’ve been really vibing with Ensemble Offspring’s recent addition of their The Surge tour! I loved the instrumentation and the collection of repertoire presented. I also found inspiration through their Lone Hemispheres series, those performances helped carry me through to the end of 2020.
Q: We believe you used to have brightly coloured short hair just like our flute player Lamorna – do you also like to wear leg warmers from time to time like Lamorna does?
A: Leg warmers used to be a regular part of my wardrobe! I trained as a dancer so used to have an enormous collection and I wore them all the time. My coloured hair ended up replacing the leg warmers, and I’m currently plotting my next transformation…
ELIZA’S BIOGRAPHY
Eliza Shephard graduated from Australian National University with a Bachelor of Music (First Class Honours) in Flute Performance studying under Virginia Taylor, and has completed her Master of Music Research through Griffith University Conservatorium looking at the Glissando Headjoint, a mechanism designed to bend sounds and expand upon the pitch spectrum of the flute.
Eliza has studied and performed in Canada and USA and has completed three years in the Professional Performance Program at Australian National Academy of Music. During her time at ANAM, Eliza received the Outstanding Program in a Solo Recital award, the ANAM Volunteer’s Prize, the Ursula Hoff Institute Prize for Most Outstanding Performance in a Solo Recital, and the Director’s Prize. Eliza was awarded the International Woodwind Player Award at the Gisborne International Music Competition, and has guested with Plexus Collective, Arcadia Winds, Rubiks Collective, and ELISION Ensemble.
Eliza tours around Australia sharing her passion for contemporary music through her flute program ‘The Extended Flute’, where she teaches about and celebrates extended techniques and their many benefits. She has toured with Opera Australia in their regional productions of Madama Butterfly (2019) and Carmen (2021). Eliza has completed her second year of ‘March of the Women’, where each day of March she releases a recording of a piece by a female composer to celebrate the output of women throughout musical history. She was founder of the Corelia Prize at ANAM, awarded to a student for the best performance of a work by a female composer. Eliza is a semifinalist for the ABC Young Performers Award 2021, and a Freedman Fellowship nominee.
