Pianist & Piano Teacher
Biography
Australian pianist Brieley Cutting studied at the Queensland Conservatorium, Australian National Academy of Music and Royal College of Music. She has performed as soloist and collaborator in European and Australasian venues, directed and performed in collaborative and critically acclaimed events for her award-winning DeClassified Music since 2011, and she has been dedicated to teaching and supporting the next generation of Australian musicians.
Brieley has performed as soloist with orchestras such as the Melbourne, Adelaide and Queensland Symphony Orchestras, and performed at many music festivals, including for The Piano Mill, Australian Piano Duo Festival, Festival of Voices, Tyalgum Festival and Bangalow Festival. She frequently collaborates with ensembles, performing previously with Ensemble Trivium, Australia Piano Quartet, Radu Cello Ensemble, Collusion Music, Topology and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra Chamber Players.
Always passionate about promoting art music performance and collaboration, supporting fellow artists, and encouraging new music creation and performance, Brieley’s DeClassified Music events have featured in the Queensland Music Festival, Sydney Fringe Festival and at Phoenix Central Park’s ‘The Church’, and have been awarded a 2014 Creative Sparks Award from the Brisbane City Council, nominated for ‘Best in Music’ at the 2023 Sydney Fringe Festival, and toured by Musica Viva in 2025/6.
Brieley is a Fellow of the Winston Memorial Trust, recipient of an Australian Postgraduate Award and David Paul Landa Scholarship, and has been supported by the Tait Memorial Trust and Australian Music Foundation. She has performed for 4MBS and ABC radio, toured for Musica Viva in Schools, and her article about collaborative pianism, ‘The Power Behind the Throne’, was a featured article for Limelight Magazine in 2018.
In 2016 Brieley completed doctoral studies at Griffith University with major creative projects including the critically acclaimed Mahler: Symphony No.2 'Resurrection' arranged for 2 pianos, 8 hands for Melba Records, and numerous recordings and performances as pianist for Collusion Music, an ensemble in residence at the Queensland Conservatorium.
Brieley was winner of the 2006 ABC ‘Young Performer of the Year’ Award in the Keyboard section, twice a winner in the in-house concerto competition at the Australian National Academy of Music in Melbourne, and was awarded Second Placing in the 2010 Kerikeri National Piano Competition in New Zealand. She has been semifinalist in the Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition in Brisbane for 2001 and 2007, and was selected for solo and concerto gala concert appearances as part of the Festival Musici Artis in Brussels and Summer Festival in Salzburg.
Brieley was the first Head of Piano at the New England Conservatorium of Music in regional New South Wales in 2018/19, was Lecturer in Classical Piano at the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney from 2020 to 2024, and in 2025 was invited to be Academic Staff for the Sydney Conservatorium's Collaborative Piano Department.
Brieley comes from a regional background, growing up on a farm in the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales. Her first piano was an old, discarded upright piano delivered to her family’s corrugated iron house on an open, rusty trailer. As her enthusiasm for the piano developed, many hours were spent travelling to capital cities for continuation of her music education. Throughout her career, Brieley has prioritised teaching, giving masterclasses, and performing in regional and rural centres.
Brieley’s main teachers and mentors have included Pamela Page, Max Olding, Oleg Stepanov, Natasha Vlassenko, Timothy Young, Rita Reichman and Stephen Emmerson.
Video
Press & Media
"... such a force! Incredible repertoire and delivered with so much power and conviction.”
- Tempo Rubato (Melbourne), for DeClassified Music's 'Grand Duet: Windows into contrasting worlds', a piano and cello recital program with Christopher Pidcock (cello), 2024
'Best in Music' Nomination at the 2023 Sydney Fringe Festival
- as producer and pianist for DeClassified Music's 'Electro Lieder', a multimedia show re-imagining art song, 2023
"Macquarie Conservatorium annual concert series presented Brieley Cutting (piano) and Kristian Winther (violin) last weekend. Two sold out, smaller audiences, due to our current “normal” (Covid pandemic), thoroughly enjoyed the performances from this talented duo."
- Dubbo Photo News, Macquarie Conservatorium NSW, 2020
"One of the best and most exciting ‘jazz with strings’ recordings that I’ve heard. ... 'Live with String Quartet' (Trichotomy) was recorded in October 2014 at the Declassified Music Festival in Brisbane ... plus Out Of The Dark Sky, a Foran piece commissioned for the 2014 Declassified Music Festival and inspired by the artwork of Yvonne Mills-Stanley."
- Ian Mann for The Jazz Mann, for a DeClassified Music live event turned Digital Release, Brieley as producer and artistic director of DeClassified Music, 2017
"Music as one part of the flow of the day’s events rather than as the full stop at the end of the day. That’s a great addition to the Brisbane scene."
- Greg Hooper for RealTime Arts, for the DeClassified Music concert series in Brisbane, Brieley as producer and artistic director, 2014
Creative Sparks Award from the Brisbane City Council
- as producer and artistic director of the DeClassified Music concert series in Brisbane, 2014
"The latest round for Arts Queensland funding has seen substantial funding awarded to Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University's 2013 Ensemble in Residence Collusion Music Australia and to QCGU DMA Candidate Brieley Cutting who is the Artistic Director of DeClassified Chamber Music. Collusion will be releasing their 2014 program in late November. It will be a truly exciting calendar of events, with many new and unique styles of collaboration including the Chamber Ballet "Transient Beauty" ... DeClassified Music proudly showcases the most exciting Australian musicians and it offers a uniquely Brisbane professional performance platform to the city's own musicians as well as those based in other cities."
- The Griffith News: Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre, Brieley as pianist for Collusion Music and artistic director of DeClassified Music, 2013
"Collusion performed throughout with intense engagement and finesse. Their precise ensemble playing detailed the works... Dramatic opportunities (and there were many) never went to waste."
- Alan Lawrence for Australian Modern Magazine, Brieley as pianist for Collusion Music, 2012
"...The synergy between dance and music, and dancers and musicians is compelling."
- Nathanael Cooper for The Courier Mail, 'A Transient Beauty' - a chamber ballet with new music by Australian composers, Brieley as pianist for Collusion Music, 2012
"Hidden gems 2014: shines brilliant new light on this masterpiece"
- The Guardian (Aus), for 'Mahler Symphony No.2 Resurrection arr. for 2 pianos, 8 hands' on Melba Records, Brieley as one of the four pianists, 2012
- The Australian Weekend Review, for 'Mahler Symphony No.2 Resurrection arr. for 2 pianos, 8 hands' on Melba Records, Brieley as one of the four pianists, 2012
“Here is a pianist who has at her disposal a myriad of different colours and who knows how to take the time to let the music speak … a performance of authority”
- Rae de Lisle for The Auckland Scoop, Kerikeri National Piano Competition, Brieley awarded Second Prize, 2010
- Suzannah Conway for The Courier Mail, 4MBS Festival of Classics, Brieley as piano duet performer for Beethoven Symphonies 1 & 4 arr. for piano duet, and pianist for Beethoven's Sonata No.23 'Appassionata', 2008
Article for Australian Institute of Music
Music in the Sky Concerts and the new ‘Neoclassical’
Australian Institute of Music classical lecturer, accomplished pianist and academic Dr Brieley Cutting reflects on her experiences performing with the Radu Cello Ensemble for the Music in the Sky series of concerts at the Coal Loader Centre for Sustainability in North Sydney.
by Brieley Cutting 31 January, 2022
Article for Limelight Magazine
The Power Behind the Throne
In a duo situation, the pianist is invariably considered subservient, an accompanist supporting a soloist. Brieley Cutting begs to differ, suggesting that it could just be the other way around.
by Brieley Cutting on 8 March, 2018
