Katherine Vest

Katherine Vest grew up in a musical family of vocalists, string musicians, and pianists. She believes that musical training is one of life’s greatest joys as well as one of the most important aspects of a well-rounded education. Katherine is passionate about constructing lessons in order to meet every individual where they are and in line with their personal goals. She strives to make music approachable, stress-free, and fun.

Katherine recently completed a Master of Music in Piano Performance with a teaching assistantship at the University of Maryland, where she studied under Bradford Gowen. During her time at Maryland she also worked in collaborative piano with Rita Sloan and performed in honors chamber music recitals. Solo performance highlights include masterclasses with virtuosos such as Jeremy Denk, Alan Chow, Heidi Williams, Wu Han, and Lowell Liebermann. Vest will continue graduate studies at the doctoral level with renowned pianist, David Korevaar at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

Katherine holds a Bachelor of Music in piano performance from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, where she graduated in 2015 Magna Cum Laude as a member of Phi Kappa Phi and Phi Kappa Lamba.

During her time at Samford Katherine represented the Student Art’s Council as head of the piano division. She studied with Dr. Ronald Shinn as a Miller-Shepherd scholarship recipient (2011-2015) and placed first in numerous competitions including the Alabama Federation of Music Club (2014), the Fletcher and Neil Morris Piano Competition (2013), and the Birmingham Music Club Guild competition (2013). Katherine was a featured performer for the Alabama Federation Music club recital (2015). Other performance highlights include soloing with the Samford Orchestra, performing the Ravel G Major Concerto, and featuring as a soloist for Wallace State Community College.

When Katherine is not teaching or practicing piano she can be found cooking, painting landscapes, hiking, or running.