Liza Scriggins

BA, M.Mus.

Early Childhood Faculty
- Early Childhood Strings
Strings Faculty

Liza Scriggins is a graduate of Williams College (BA) and the New England Conservatory of Music (MM), where she studied viola with Marcus Thompson as well as Burton Fine, then Principal Violist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She has participated in numerous summer music festivals throughout North America and Japan, including the Pacific Music Festival, Kent/Blossom Music Festival, and Utah Festival Opera. In 2001-2002, Liza completed a masterclass program and long-term residency at the Banff Centre. She has taught and performed at the Comox Valley Youth Music Centre, and for many summers played in Calgary’s own Mountain View Festival. Liza has had the honour of performing under the baton of such luminaries as Seiji Ozawa, Sir Simon Rattle and Michael Tilson Thomas, and has also performed chamber music with Geoff Nuttall, Jonathan Crow, and Anton Kuerti.

An active freelance musician, Liza has played with the Calgary Philharmonic, National Ballet, Red Deer Symphony, Kensington Sinfonia, Calgary Instrumental Society, Allegra String Quartet and Land’s End Chamber Ensemble. She is on the Land’s End disc Rollin’ down #1, which won the 2006 WCMA award for Outstanding Classical Recording, and her playing was broadcast on CBC Radio as a member of Sempre la Musica. Before coming to Alberta, she was a member of the Vermont Symphony and performed in ensembles all over New England. More recently, Liza was violist for Theatre Calgary’s award-winning production, The Louder We Get.

In 2016, Liza ventured into writing as the founder of StoryMusic, which presents storytelling chamber music concerts for all ages. She has been awarded grants by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the National Arts Centre’s Music Alive Program, and the Music Performance Trust Fund, and her group has performed for countless children at immigrant service centres, public libraries and schools. January 2021 marked the premiere of Liza's version of Little Red Riding Hood set to Beethoven's String Quartet No. 11, presented by the Calgary Philharmonic as part of their Education Concerts for the 2020-2021 season. Liza teaches both violin and viola to students of all ages and levels. Before joining the faculty at Mount Royal Conservatory in 2009, she held positions at Studio Nine School of Music and Chinook Studio in Calgary. She also taught in the Boston area at Creative Arts for Kids, Arlington Public Schools, Boston Music Education Collaborative, and the Monteverdi Music School in Montpelier, Vermont.

Private Lesson Rate: $79.00 per hour.