Elaine Lau

Versatile as both a soloist and collaborative artist, Elaine Lau has performed as keyboardist and soloist with numerous orchestras, and broadcast on CBC Radio 2, National Public Radio (USA), and Rondo Classic (Finland). She has performed with ensembles including the Canadian Chamber Ensemble, Contact Contemporary Music, and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. As a solo recitalist, she has been featured on the Canadian Opera Company’s Piano Virtuoso concert series, Arts and Letters Series, the Canadian Music Centre’s On the 13th! Piano Series and at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. Her live performances of Canadian piano repertoire can be found online at the Canadian Music Centre.

In addition to her interest in the standard literature, Elaine also regularly premieres new works for toy, solo and duo piano, and is a founding member of junctQín, an award-winning Toronto-based contemporary keyboard collective. Recent highlights include performances at the Open Ears Festival (Kitchener-Waterloo), the International Electro-acoustic Symposium, and the Colours of Music Festival in Barrie. As duo pianist with Joseph Ferretti, Elaine has performed across North America and recorded for Capstone Records. Recent recording releases include reTHiNK, a well-received recording of contemporary piano music for six hands (2020, Redshift Records), funded by FACTOR and the Canada Council for the Arts; Elaine is also featured on composer Alex Eddington’s album, “A Present from a Small Distant World” (2021, Redshift Records), with soprano Kristin Mueller-Heaslip.

Elaine was coach and repetiteur for the Opera Theatre of Lucca (Italy) and for several years, collaborative pianist/instructor for the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts (USA). In addition to performing, Elaine is active nationally as an adjudicator and Senior RCM Examiner, and has served as course facilitator and reviewer as well for online pedagogy courses at the Royal Conservatory. As a Senior Teacher Advisor, Elaine happily contributed to MEDA (Music Education in the Digital Age), a multi-institutional project that produced educational learning tools, including the Music Tool Suite. A member of the piano faculty at Wilfrid Laurier University since 2003, teaching studio piano and chamber music, Ms. Lau was the recipient of the Contribution to Teaching Award from the Ontario Registered Music Teachers’ Association in 2018 and has also served as keyboard faculty at the National Youth Orchestra of Canada.