About Maryliz Smith

Her Music

Maryliz Smith brings over 25 years experience as a professional composer, performer, and music teacher.

Coming out of a virtuosic, classical tradition as a concert organist, Maryliz’s signature sound is one of post-minimalism, using both acoustic and electroacoustic keyboards to draw listeners into a complexity of emotions.

She is inspired by single moments that can change the trajectory of a life, a living system, a culture, and she translates these into musical language, a language she describes as her first.

Her Story

Maryliz often says she was born from music.

By the age of five she was playing the piano. She waited, not so patiently, for her legs to grow enough to touch the pedals of a pipe organ, and by the age of thirteen, she was being groomed as a concert organist. She attended Interlochen Arts Academy during her high school years, followed by a master’s degree in organ performance, while being mentored by artists Gillian Weir, Marie-Claire Alain, and Roberta Gary.

For Maryliz, music is a medium for imagination in the midst of complexities, and for knowing oneself in the midst of chaos. Having experienced the power of music in her own life, she now innovates in all her roles to offer the same for others, from composing her “immersive” works to help people reflect on the topics of our times, to customizing her lessons so that students can unearth their creative potential.

Inspired by what music has taught her about humanity, Maryliz is also co-founder of Callanish and ELIA leadership programs—adding her arts-based perspective to their programming, such as using musical improvisations to draw people into dialogue, and using collaborative song-making to help people uncover their signature expression. She also offers such experiences to others through her public and private performances. In these ways, Maryliz has used music as a gentle disruptor of the status quo, bringing people together in new ways for new insights on how to move forward.