Dr Rae de Lisle is currently Associate Professor of Piano at The University of Auckland. Following 8 years of study and performing in London Rae became one of New Zealand’s foremost concert pianists, touring regularly for Chamber Music New Zealand, playing concertos with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and recording for radio and television.

Rae’s teaching has produced many outstanding young pianists, including prizewinners in the Sydney International Piano Competition, the Lev Vlassenko Australasian Piano Competition, the Bradshaw and Buono Competition in New York, and the Perrenoud Foundation International Piano Competition. Her students have won all the major piano competitions in New Zealand. She received an Excellence in Teaching Award from the University in 2011.

Rae is Artistic Director of the Wallace National Piano Competition and the Wallace International Piano Festival. She was on the jury for the 2012 Dublin International Piano Competition and the 2009 Singapore National Piano Competition and has been adjudicator many times for the NZCT School Chamber Music Contest. In 2011 she received the Marie Vandervart Award for outstanding service and commitment to fostering the love of chamber music in New Zealand.

Rae’s PhD research into focal dystonia, the most devastating of musician’s injuries, has resulted in specific concepts about instrumental retraining which led to presentations and keynote speeches throughout the world. She is now working on a book focusing on the development of injury preventative piano technique at every level, from the beginner to the advanced pianist.

In 2016 Rae was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to music.