Bio
Praised for her "fierce artistry” (Winnipeg Free Press) and poetic pianism, “powerhouse” Winnipeg-based pianist and coach Lisa Rumpel is an active member of Manitoba’s arts scene. Lisa’s vibrant and varied freelance career has included performances with many of Manitoba’s arts organizations such as Flipside Opera & Art Song Collective, The Little Opera Company, Manitoba Opera, Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg, Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers, Brandon Chamber Players, Brandon University Pro Series, Cluster: New Music + Integrated Arts Festival, Winnipeg Baroque Festival, and the Winnipeg Boys’ Choir. She has had the opportunity to work and perform with a multitude of exceptional artists: Tracy Dahl, Clarence Frazer, Monica Huisman, Lara Ciekiewicz, James McLennan, Elena Howard-Scott, Lara Secord-Haid, Lizzy Hoyt, violinist Kerson Leong, and clarinetist Jonathan Russell, to name a few.
Since completing her Master of Music (Collaborative Piano) at the University of Manitoba in 2015, Lisa has built her reputation as a coach and pianist for musicians of all experience levels. As an alumna of the Franz Schubert Institute, Vancouver International Song Institute, and Opera NUOVA, Lisa has been privileged to work with renowned musicians from across the world, with financial support from the Winnipeg Arts Council and Manitoba Arts Council.
Alongside her demanding performance schedule, Lisa is an engaged member of the arts community, having sat on the boards of Cluster New Music + Integrated Arts Festival, The Little Opera Company, Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg, and Living Room Live. She is Co-Artistic Director of Flipside Opera & Art Song Collective, creating unique and accessible programming for classical music lovers and newcomers alike. Lisa currently works as a sessional vocal coach at the Desautels Faculty of Music at the University of Manitoba, and teaches piano & theory at the Winnipeg Conservatory of Music. She has adjudicated music festivals across Manitoba, where she has been thrilled to connect with the people creating vibrant artistic communities in rural areas similar to where she grew up. Lisa lives in Winnipeg with her husband and young daughter.
Selected recent performance highlights include:
- “Love Languages: Songs & Pictures on Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch” with soprano Tracy Dahl & baritone Clarence Frazer, presented by Flipside Opera & Art Song Collective and the Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg (2025)
- “Word Painting: The Complete Songs of Henri Duparc” with sopranos Lara Ciekiewicz & Elena Howard-Scott and visual artist Nereo Zorro, presented by Flipside Opera & Art Song Collective (2026)
- Brandon University Pro Series with clarinetist Jonathan Russell (2026)
- “Sing Me a Song I’ve (never) Heard Before,” premiering a newly commissioned set of songs by Karen Sunabacka with text by John Samson Fellows, supported and presented by Winnipeg’s City of Song (2024)
- “Dazzling Dexterity” with violinist Kerson Leong, presented by the Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg (2023)
- “In Remembrance” with mezzo-soprano Lizzy Hoyt, presented by the Edmonton Recital Society (2023)
- “Looking Glass,” a set of solo piano etudes by Philip Glass alongside Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers, choreographed by Idan Cohen, in which the “[p]owerhouse pianist…proved herself a warrior…with nary a note missed” (Winnipeg Free Press) (2023)
- “Gay Guerrilla” with pianists Everett Hopfner, Diana Neufeld, and Theresa Thordarson presented by the Brandon Chamber Players (2023)
- “Julius Eastman : Redux” with pianists Everett Hopfner, Naomi Woo, and Madeline Hildebrand presented by Cluster/Pride (2021)