Heather Lanners

Canadian pianist HEATHER SHEA LANNERS has performed extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Brazil, and China as both a soloist and chamber musician. Recent engagements include performances in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, Brazil, the Tenri Cultural Center in N.Y.C., a seven-city concert tour of China with Pangaea Chamber Players, concerto performances with the Bulgarian State Orchestra of Vidin, and solo performances at the Dublin International Piano Festival. Ms. Lanners has also performed as Pianist for the Cleveland Opera on Tour, the prestigious Meadowmount School of Music, and the Holland Summer Music Sessions.

After receiving her Bachelor’s in Piano Performance from the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada with pianist John-Paul Bracey, Lanners continued her studies in Paris with French pianist, Cécile Ousset. While in Paris, she earned the Diplôme Supérieur en Musique de Chambre at the École Normale de Musique. Since the completion of a Master’s in Performance with Barry Snyder at the Eastman School of Music, Ms. Lanners has worked as Opera Coach at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the University of Akron. She currently serves as Professor of Piano at the Michael and Anne Greenwood School of Music at Oklahoma State University. She has been the recipient of numerous awards including the 2019 College of Arts and Sciences Wise-Diggs-Berry award for teaching excellence, and the 2021 Oklahoma State University Distinguished Music Professor award.

An advocate for promoting the works of her contemporaries, Lanners recently premiered and recorded a substantial new solo piano work written for her in 2019 by composer Gregory Mertl. The world premiere of “Pictures Without an Exhibition,” took place at the McKnight Center for the Performing Arts in 2020, and her disc of the solo piano works of Mertl will be released in early 2024.

In addition to a busy performing and teaching schedule, Lanners remains active as a guest lecturer, masterclass clinician, and adjudicator. Throughout her career, she has given guest classes and performances at numerous universities across the United States, Canada, and Brazil, including Penn State University, the Eastman School of Music, the University of Washington, Bowling Green State University, The Ohio State University, the Idyllwild School for the Performing Arts and the Universidade de São Paulo. She has also published articles in the American Music Teacher Journal and currently serves as Recordings Editor for Piano Magazine.