Highly regarded teacher, chamber music coach and adjudicator whose students have won numerous competitions
Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, pianist Vanessa Fadial began piano lessons at the age of four. As a young pianist, she won several competitions and at 11, performed on WDAV, the local classical radio station. She went on to high school at the North Carolina School of the Arts. As a student, she won fellowships to attend the Tibor Varga Festival in Sion, Switzerland, Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada, and Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. She was a teaching assistant for four years at Stony Brook University and a member of the Graduate Trio.
In addition to a DMA in solo piano performance from Stony Brook University, she also has a Master degree in solo performance, a Master degree in Collaborative Piano from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and a Bachelor degree in solo performance (’92) from Oberlin Conservatory. Her primary instructors included Robert McDonald, Robert Shannon, Anne Epperson, and Christina Dahl. As well as studies and master classes with Gilbert Kalish, Jerome Lowenthal, Claude Frank, and Menahem Pressler.
Dr. Fadial has a vital interest in performing music by living composers and as a member of the Yarbo/Fadial Duo, with violinist, Anyango Yarbo-Davenport, they are working on recording their debut CD, to be released in 2017. This will include premieres of works by Dan Visconti, and Grammy Award winner, Robert Livingston Aldridge. The Yarbo-Davenport Duo recently performed at the South Pasadena Library in California and in New York City.
While living in New York City, she was on the roster of the Golden Key Salon Series at Klavierhaus, was a member of the New York–based chamber group the Circadia Ensemble, and performed with her trio on the Trinity Concerts at One series at Trinity Church, Wall Street. Also a member of the Lilac Piano Quartet, formed with members of the Rochester Philharmonic, she performed on WXXI’s, backstage pass radio program and at the George Eastman House.
Her students have won numerous competitions over the years, including MTNA Baldwin Junior, SYMF Chopin Competition, and Piano Competition of the Music of Nicholas Flagello, four years in a row. Also at the Third Street Music School Settlement Concerto Competition in New York City, 4 years in a row, and the International Young Artists Competition in Washington DC.
Dr. Fadial is a highly regarded teacher, chamber music coach and adjudicator. She is a member of the Music Teacher’s Association of California and teaches on the faculty of the Colburn Community School of Performing Arts.