For over two decades, the award-winning flautist and composer Eliza Marshall has made a name for herself working with internationally acclaimed artists, orchestras and film composers, along with fronting her own projects and band. She modestly calls herself a ‘flautist’ but as her ever-increasing list of musical credits and expanding collection of instruments testify, she is an extremely talented multi-instrumentalist who doesn’t like to restrict herself to anything – certainly not musical genres.
 

An early holistic education at a Steiner school suited Eliza perfectly as it fostered creativity, critical thinking, a love of learning and a connection with nature. As she says, its ‘world is your oyster’ learning approach “allowed me to just be exactly who I wanted to be.” It also exposed her to all manner of visiting musicians, from South African Soweto choirs to Bolivian folk groups, the latter’s Andean panpipes first sparking Eliza’s interest in wind instruments. 
 

There was plenty of exposure to music at home too, as both Eliza’s grandmothers went to music college and her grandfather and father played the piano. Eliza remembers hearing her dad playing his jazz records and falling asleep listening to him tinkling on the piano. 
 

Aged nine Eliza received a very special Christmas gift, one that would prove life-changing in many ways: a cassette by the esteemed classical flautist James Galway along with famed Irish trad band The Chieftains. The pure, soaring sound of Galway’s flute, along with the haunting tone of the uilleann pipes had a lasting impression on Eliza and meant she was soon hanging up her violin in favour of the flute. From age 12 onwards she attended the junior conservatoire in Birmingham, then continued her classical studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London along with contemporaries including harpist Catrin Finch. Fortuitously Eliza’s teacher, Michael Cox, swiftly got the measure of her (“he was similarly brimming with enthusiasm about life and everything on offer,”) so didn’t baulk when instead of practicing Mahler, Eliza would turn up with a book of Chinese folk music and an erhu (Chinese two-stringed fiddle). 

In typically understated fashion, Eliza calls herself “a bit intrepid… I love the world and I love connecting people, and I love the fact that music can do that.” Those distinctly different yet complementary educational experiences cemented Eliza’s desire to explore musics from across the globe and after graduating, Eliza spent time working in Cameroon, West Africa for an AIDs awareness NGO. 
 

Courage, curiosity and compassion seem to sum up Eliza’s whole approach to life, not just her musical career. There’s also the fact that she has a self-professed inability to understand terms such as ‘You shouldn’t’ and ‘You can’t’ and a tendency to say ‘Yes!’ to every opportunity presented to her. All these traits have undeniably contributed to her becoming a highly successful and sought-after session musician who has worked with a dizzying number of international artists, from A-ha to Stevie Wonder. Particular standout collaborations have included touring and recording with Peter Gabriel, working with the sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan and performing at Wembley with The Who. There’s been memorable performances at the BBC Proms and the Royal Opera House with the Britten Sinfonia, not forgetting the long list of soundtracks she’s worked on, including David Attenborough’s A Life on Our Planet, The Lord of the Rings and playing in West End shows such as The Lion King.
 

In 2013 Eliza co-founded the Anglo-Irish folk four-piece Ranagri with Dónal Rogers, releasing five albums to date. Being in her own band has given Eliza an opportunity to craft her own style – some have likened her playing to the wizardry of Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson. It also fostered a desire to compose and create something meaningful. The result was Freedom to Roam: a multi-media (album, documentary and tour) and multi-artist project launched in 2020, in collaboration with the international wildlife charity, Born Free Foundation. Its themes of climate change, migration and human displacement, rewilding and connection to the land felt hugely pertinent and timely and was widely praised (‘lovingly crafted, inspirational and thought-provoking,’ Songlines magazine). “I feel like we’re bombarded with a lot negativity,” says Eliza who is a firm believer in positive thinking and action. 
 

Now she’s embarking on an exciting new chapter. Having long admired Steve Reich’s minimalism and layering of rhythms, Eliza is now experimenting with a loop pedal, giving her the ability to perform solo and hone her own sound, bringing together all the seemingly disparate strands of her musical life. She admits it has pushed her out of her comfort zone, but never being afraid of a challenge, this solo venture feels cathartic.

Following the release in May 2025 of the EP New Birth on Real World X, Eliza has now completed her debut full-length solo album called Eternal Birth, due to be released in early 2026. A cinematic celebration of the cycle of life and the fragility of fertility, the album was recorded in Dakar, Senegal and Real World Studios in Wiltshire and features several special guests along with Eliza’s own spoken words. It’s bursting with kaleidoscopic musical influences, from soulful Gaelic sounding melodies to pulsating West African rhythms and as it progresses, it conjures up vivid expansive soundscapes, evoking Eliza’s love of wilderness, from the sun-scorched deserts of West Africa to the craggy peaks of Scotland. 
 

Some years back Peter Gabriel gave her a piece of advice that she has consistently adhered to: “Always remember it’s about moving people.’ Whether she’s working with a band, orchestra or in her solo work, Eliza always brings an abundance of emotion and colour to her music-making.