Elise's Experience

As a live musician/keyboardist, I’ve had the opportunity to perform with a range of artists including Beyoncé, Chloe x Halle, Chlöe, Ellie Goulding, and Pawpaw Rod. I’ve performed on major award shows such as the Oscars (with Beyoncé), the MTV Movie Awards, the VMA’s, and the BET Awards as well as other TV performances such as the Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon and the Late Late Show with James Corden. I’ve performed at major festivals such as Coachella, Global Citizen and Outside Lands. Other notable performances include Ulla Johnson at NYFW, and the Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project. For the Library of Congress performance, I was able to perform and write a new arrangement especially for the legendary Roxanne Seeman and Charles Fox’s, to honor American veterans. I was also cast a pianist for the winter premiere for “The Kids Are Alright” TV show on ABC, and “the Unicorn” on CBS. As a songwriter and producer, I have written and produced original music for Soundstripe. As a songwriter, an original song I wrote, “Home,” became a finalist in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. I also produced the recording session of “Home.” For a contest at the Thornton School of Music, Patrice Rushen chose a song that I co-wrote with Jessi Mason (singer/songwriter) to be recorded at NRG studios, called “One Last Time.” Jessi and I wrote, arranged, produced, and contracted the musicians for this session. I played the piano for this session, and there was a rhythm section (drums, bass, guitar, e. piano), a six-piece string section, a horn section (trumpet, trombone, sax, 2 French Horns), lead vocal, and background vocals. This session gave Jessi and I an opportunity to learn how to produce a full-scale session in a professional studio. In 2020, I was given the opportunity to record piano for Chloe x Halle’s rendition of “Lift Every Voice,” arranged by Derek Dixie, for BET’s televised HBCU tribute (recorded at NRG studios). I was extremely fortunate to join the Popular Performance Program for my final year at USC (2018). It was through this program that I gained experience as a songwriter, producer, performer, and Music Director through recording sessions, collaboration, and live performances. I have used MainStage to program sounds for performances, including synthesizers and strings.