Lisa Kaplan
Performer, Composer, Arranger, Mentor | 2024 Platform Award Recipient
Lisa Kaplan is a pianist specializing in the performance of new work by living composers. Kaplan is the founding pianist and Executive Director of the four-time Grammy Award-winning sextet Eighth Blackbird. Kaplan has won numerous awards, performed all over the country and has premiered new pieces by hundreds of composers, including Andy Akiho, Jennifer Higdon, Amy Beth Kirsten, David Lang, Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, Steve Reich and Pamela Z. She has had the great pleasure to collaborate and make music with an eclectic array of incredibly talented people - Laurie Anderson, Jeremy Denk, Bryce Dessner, Philip Glass, Bon Iver, J. Ivy, Glenn Kotche, Shara Nova, Will Oldham, Natalie Portman, Gustavo Santaolalla, Tarrey Torae, Dawn Upshaw and Michael Ward-Bergeman to name a few. As a co-founder of the Blackbird Creative Lab, a musical educational initiative for emergent musical artists, Lisa is passionate about forging community and mentoring musicians who will shape the future of contemporary music.
As a proud, single-mother-by-choice, Kaplan has been having an incredible time raising and learning from her happy-go-lucky daughter, Frida. Musically as of late, she has also greatly enjoyed and appreciated the opportunity to do both composing and arranging for Eighth Blackbird as well as some producing. In 2019, Kaplan co-produced her first record, When We Are Inhuman with Bryce Dessner. Kaplan is a true foodie, gourmet cook, avid reader, crossword and Wordle addict, enjoys baking ridiculously complicated pastry and loves outdoor adventures. She has summited Mt. Kilimanjaro, braved the Australian outback, stared an enormous elephant in the face in Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Crater and survived close encounters with grizzly bears in the Brooks Range of Alaska.
Lisa holds a Bachelor of Music from Oberlin Conservatory, a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from Oberlin College, an Artist Diploma in Chamber Music from University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, and a Masters of Music from Northwestern University.
www.eighthblackbird.org
Instagram: @lskappy
