Elizabeth Reid is a Canadian-American violist and composer whose performances span five centuries of music without blinking. Known for her "deep and expressive sound" and "natural musicality" (Times Argus), her playing has been described as delighting "with old-world and otherworldly charm" (That Canadian Magazine).
A core member of Vermont's contemporary music collective TURNmusic, she has premiered works by Carol Wood, Gwyneth Walker, Erik Nielsen, Michael Close, Tawnie Olson, Jorge Martin, and many others. Most recently, she performed the world premiere of Michael Close's NorthStar viola concerto as soloist with the Vermont Philharmonic Orchestra on March 8, 2026 - a new work written expressly for her, performed with full orchestra at the Barre Opera House.
Her 2023 album [Conjuring: Viola Music of David Jaeger](https://redshiftrecords.org/catalogue/2023-releases/tk524/) on Redshift Records documents her long collaboration with the Canadian composer, spanning works for viola and piano, unaccompanied viola, and viola with electronics - recorded at CBC Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto with pianist Alison Bruce Cerutti. The album received praise from Take Effect Review: "string acrobatics that are as stunning as they are captivating."
Her solo and chamber work spans Vermont, Canada, and Europe - from ArtsRiot Burlington and the Barre Opera House to Gallery 345 in Toronto and live collaborations on Jamulus with colleagues across North America and Europe. She has performed as soloist with the Burlington Civic Symphony (Martinů's Rhapsody-Concerto) and Counterpoint Chorus (Vaughan Williams' Flos Campi), and has been heard on Vermont Public Radio. and CBC.
As an orchestral musician she subs regularly with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. She has held principal viola positions with the Opera Company of Middlebury Orchestra, and Scarborough Philharmonic and Banff Opera Orchestra in Canada.
Her compositional work pairs her viola with live electronics, and her curiosity has taken her from studying spectral music in Finland to building real-time improvisation tools for remote ensemble performance.
Elizabeth holds a Bachelor's and Master's in Viola Performance from Western University and an Artist Diploma from the Glenn Gould Professional School at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Her teachers included Betty-Jean Hagen, Lorand Fenyves, Ralph Aldrich, and Rennie Regehr. She is based between Vermont and Southern Ontario, Canada.