Catriona Mackenzie
About
Catriona Mackenzie is an award-winning Scottish concert pianist, narrative recitalist, and collaborative artist whose performances are celebrated for their profound musicality, distinct thematic curation, and engaging audience communication.
Hailing from the Highlands of Scotland, Catriona’s musical foundation began at St Mary’s Music School and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where she graduated with a First-Class Honours degree. She subsequently completed her Master’s degree with Distinction at the Royal Academy of Music in London, studying under the celebrated tutelage of Anna Tilbrook and Malcolm Martineau, where she was awarded an additional diploma for an outstanding final recital. A current scholarship student on the prestigious Artist Diploma course at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, studying with Jayson Gillham and Nicholas Ashton, Catriona's exceptional career has been generously supported by major national awards, including the Sir James Caird Scholarship, The Cross Trust, and the Dewar Awards.
Catriona maintains a busy solo and collaborative diary across the UK and internationally, with recent concert highlights including commanding recitals at the Royal Albert Hall, King’s Place, St John’s Smith Square, the Usher Hall, St Giles’ Cathedral, and Paxton House. An active international performer, she recently completed an extensive concert tour of Lithuania as part of the Klaipeda Piano Masters initiative, performing across five of the country’s premier concert halls. Her orchestral credentials include guest concerto appearances with the Edinburgh City Orchestra, the Inverness Symphony Orchestra, and the Highland Chamber Orchestra.
Projects
Narrative Solo Recitals & Scottish Curation
Catriona is a passionate soloist specialising in highly curated, conceptual recital programmes for arts festivals, heritage spaces, and concert societies. Rejecting the passive nature of traditional classical concerts, she acts as a musical storyteller, speaking directly to audiences to unravel the histories, hidden architectures, and personal "backstories" behind the scores. Her signature touring programs include Dedication, an evening deep-diving into music written as intimate personal tributes, and Stravaig—a continuous, highly celebrated solo journey through more than 230 years of Scottish landscapes, pairing rare classical works by Helen Hopekirk and Rory Boyle alongside her own bespoke arrangements of traditional Highland melodies.
The Phoenix Duo
Catriona is the co-founder and pianist for The Phoenix Duo, an acclaimed chamber partnership alongside the American cellist Josiah Duhlstine. Celebrated for their technical chemistry and imaginative transcriptions, the duo was awarded the prestigious Louis Carus’ Duo Ensemble Prize and has been accepted onto the highly competitive Live Music Now Scotland scheme. Their concert programs span classical masterworks and direct collaborations with living British icons—including working alongside Errollyn Wallen and Sir James MacMillan—while seamlessly weaving in their own custom, high-art concert arrangements of traditional Scottish and American folk music.
Art Song Partnerships & Vocal Lieder
An exceptionally intuitive vocal accompanist and partner, Catriona operates at the highest tier of the UK’s art song and lieder scene. She is an official Leeds Lieder Young Artist and was a permanent fixture within the exclusive Song Circle and Academy Voices during her time in London. Her competitive accolades in vocal collaboration include winning the Royal Academy of Music Schumann Lieder Competition, the Edith Poulsen Accompanist’s Prize, and reaching the finals of the Ashburnham English Song Competition. Alongside her lieder work, she performs regularly with the EMPOWER collective, a chamber initiative dedicated exclusively to uncovering and championing masterworks written by historical and contemporary female composers.
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