Liz Davis Maxfield: Mormon Musician

Liz Davis Maxfield is a cellist who specializes in traditional Irish music. Although Irish bands do not typically include the cello, Maxfield used her Fulbright scholarship to study in Ireland and wrote a book on how to adapt Irish instrumental styles to the cello. She was the first cellist accepted to the Irish Traditional Music Performance master’s program at the University of Limerick. She earned her master’s degree with first class honours in 2010. The Irish Cello Book was published in April 2013 by Hal Leonard and Berklee Press.

Maxfield attended Brigham Young University as a cello performance major then studied at Berklee College of Music where she earned her bachelor’s degree in music performance, cello, summa cum laude, in 2009. She formed Folk Arts Quartet with three other Berklee students in 2008. The group explored Celtic/classical crossover music they called ChamberGrass and performed around Boston and New York. The group disbanded in 2011 after recording an album that features compositions and arrangements from each member of the band. She also recorded a solo album, Big Fiddle.

She formed New Time Ensemble in 2010. She also formed MaxfieldMusic and continues to compose, arrange, teach, and play.

She is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As a child she took cello lessons and performed in her family band FiddleSticks. Her mother played the Irish harp, her father played an Irish drum known as the bodhran, her sister Kate played the fiddle, and her sister Becca played the flute and sang.

Maxfield is also a junior front-end developer with Red Pepper Software and a mentor at DevMountain.