Anna McBride

Biography

Anna McBride is an accomplished pianist and rehearsal accompanist with a strong background in both music and dance. She holds a Fellowship from Trinity College London (FTCL) in Recital Piano, prepared under the guidance of Angela Cook, and has studied piano accompaniment for dance at the prestigious Accademia Teatro alla Scala under Massimo Ciarella and Marcelo Spaccarotella. Anna holds a BA in Theatre Studies and Performing Arts from the University of Otago and has received further ballet piano training from renowned instructors such as Nicki Williamson, Karen MacIver, and Massimiliano Greco.

Anna has worked extensively with the Czech National Ballet since 2023, providing rehearsal accompaniment for iconic ballets such as Sleeping Beauty, Onegin, La Sylphide, Romeo and Juliet, Coppélia, Scheherazade, and Manon. Anna also prepared the piano reduction of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sinfonietta on Russian Themes Op. 31 for the rehearsal process of Scheherezade.  She has played piano and celesta with orchestras for live ballet performances, including Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, and The Nutcracker, where she performed the Sugar Plum Fairy solo on celesta.

Prior to coming to the Czech Republic, Anna worked as a ballet pianist in New Zealand at the New Zealand School of Dance, Royal New Zealand Ballet, and the Royal Academy of Dance, and as a piano and dance teacher, and MD for musical theatre. Since coming to Prague, Anna has also collaborated with Daria Klimentová, playing for her International Ballet Masterclasses.

Anna has danced her whole life and as a ballet pianist she enjoys the collaboration between music and dance and the opportunity to work inside the ballet studio. She is particularly interested in the way dancers are taught about music and the role of the pianist in helping to develop dancers’ musicality.