Concert pianist, academic, and piano teacher, Vanessa O’Connor is a passionate musical artist and educator.

As a soloist, Vanessa regularly performs the standard concert repertoire while also exploring works by Australian and Italian composers, and uncovering lesser known repertoire for the piano. Most recently, she has been performing in Italy, Germany and Eastern Europe while also lecturing as a Professor in Piano and English at Modena and Reggio Emilia Conservatories in Italy.

Vanessa enjoys collaborating with other artists and has performed with both opera singers, and instrumentalists as well as in chamber music formations. During the past few years she has formed two duo partnerships with pianists Giuseppe Modugno and Mariangela Ciuffreda to perform the piano 4 hands repertoire and works for two pianos.

Vanessa is a lecturer of both Piano and English (for musicians) at the Modena Conservatory and lecturer of English at the Reggio Emilia Conservatory and teaches piano privately at her studio in Perth, Western Australia.

Vanessa holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Melba Conservatorium in Melbourne where she studied with Dr.Elyane Laussade, a Masters degree of piano from the Modena Conservatory where she studied with Prof. Giuseppe Modugno and a Master of Teaching from the University of Tasmania.

Having studied and performed in both Australia and Italy has given Vanessa a unique and diverse cultural and professional experience that is valuable and rare. It has also given her access to Masterclasses from acclaimed artists in both countries such as Elyane Laussade, Katherine Day, Sonia Lifschitz, Giuseppe Modugno, Bruno Canino, Antonio Ballista, Alberto Miodini, Oleg Poliansky, Matteo Napoli, Jana Kovar, and Robert Curry.

Vanessa currently divides her time between Australia and Italy, pursuing her passion for performing, adjudicating, and teaching while also indulging other interests such as learning languages, the Suzuki approach to piano teaching, arts and culture.