Interests and Projects
Ongoing musical interests include artistic dialogue and exploration of climate change, dementia, mycology and herbalism. I'm newly exploring Lacanian concepts. If any of these topics are of musical interest to you, let's talk?
And ... I welcome opportunities to play chamber music of nearly any period and composer!
Biography
Cacie Miller performs, teaches and writes music in the Chicagoland area. She has relied on the sounds and repertoire of the piano to help her make sense of the world around her since a young age. She is drawn to compositions packed with colorful storytelling and especially those that seem to push through the edges of reality. She relishes these qualities in the music of time honored composers such as Beethoven, Liszt, Debussy and Bartók, and in contemporary composers such as Lera Auerbach and Reena Esmail. Sometimes Cacie improvises and composes on her instrument.
Cacie is a passionate chamber musician, and enjoys chamber parties, improv, and more formal arrangements. She is a founding member of the FM Duo for Cello and Piano and the Helia Trio. Sometimes she plays with Tango with Winnie.
Cacie’s musicianship was fostered by several teachers throughout her university studies. She studied piano with William Heiles, Rebecca Penneys, and Robert Glover, theory with Steve Laitz, and harpsichord with Charlotte Mattax Moersch. She holds degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (DMA in Performance and Literature), the Eastman School of Music (MA in theory pedagogy), Houghton University (MM in piano), and the University of Southern Maine (BM in piano). These studies informed Cacie’s playing and her own teaching through work on body/emotion integration at the piano, use of analytical practices to inform interpretive decisions, and practicing intentional listening to prepare communicative performances.
With hope of working toward sustainable cultural practices, Cacie has been actively working on the project Composing the Climate, which began during her doctoral research. This project focuses on performer-driven commissioned chamber works written to work through emotional reckonings with the climate crisis. In Fall 2023, the first recital took place, with works by Shi-An Costello and Sam Sharp, two Chicago composers. In 2024-5, Cacie worked with Missing Piece to commission and present music by Scott Rubin, Alissa Voth and Ben Zucker (this work made possible by a grant from Illinois Arts Council). In addition to chamber music, Cacie has worked on solo compositions, including her work AlteredHome.
Cacie enjoys making music in many places, at festivals in Germany, Italy and Puerto Rico, and through the Chicago area, including Constellation, Elastic Arts, Fourth Presbyterian Church, the Nineteenth Century Club, PianoForte Studios, and several area churches, including United Lutheran Church, where she is director of music. Cacie is a member of New Music Chicago, Musicians Club of Women Chicago, and is on the board of MTNA's CAMTA chapter.