Gracie Francis is a 2026 graduate of the C. V. Starr Doctoral Program at The Juilliard School in New York, where her research explored the life and songs of American composer Marion Bauer as a queer woman in the first half of the twentieth century. At Juilliard Gracie also served as a Community Service Fellow, Student Congress representative, Diversity Advocate, History teaching assistant, Vocal Arts staff pianist, and violin studio pianist for Catherine Cho and Areta Zhulla (Juilliard String Quartet). Gracie also became a Samling Artist in 2024 and attended the Samling Institute for Young Artists in Scotland. In 2025 she became a Performance Fellow at the University of Waikato, and she took up a staff pianist position at the Sydney Conservatorium in 2026.

Gracie’s notable performances while based in the US included the Naumburg Competition, Carnegie Hall’s SongStudio with Renée Fleming, Young Concert Artists recitals, and the Juilliard Vocal Arts Honors Recital. She spent her summers exploring more of the US and Europe, as a staff pianist for Spoleto Festival USA in South Carolina, a coach at Berlin Opera Academy, a Vocal Piano Fellow at Tanglewood Music Center in Massachusetts, and a resident artist for the Voice Academy in Aix-en-Provence, France.

Before studying in the US, at home in New Zealand Gracie worked as Assistant Director of GALS (Gay and Lesbian Singers) and the Auckland Youth Choir, and as a mentor and music educator in high schools for piano, chamber music, and harpsichord. Gracie received her Bachelor of Music (Honors) in solo piano in 2014 under Rae de Lisle at the University of Auckland, and her Master’s in Vocal Collaborative Piano from Juilliard in 2021 as a Fulbright Scholar and Kovner Fellow. Her doctoral study was supported by the Kia Ora Foundation Patricia Pratt Music Scholarship and Kiwi Music Scholarship.