The University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance announces that Dr. Ana Maria Otamendi will join the Departments of Piano and Voice & Opera as an associate professor in the fall of 2024, leading the collaborative piano program. Otamendi has forged a diverse career as a vocal coach, collaborative pianist, chamber musician, recording artist, pedagogue, entrepreneur, and conductor.
“Ana Maria Otamendi is an excellent hire for us as we move toward maintaining and growing our importance, nationally and internationally, in collaborative piano at the University of Michigan,” shared Christopher Harding, professor and chair of the Department of Piano. “Her energy, imagination, experience, and prospects for greatness foretell truly excellent things for the future.”
Otamendi is co-founder and co-director of the Collaborative Piano Institute alongside newly appointed U-M SMTD faculty Elena Lacheva. The institute is one of the most sought-after summer programs for collaborative pianists worldwide. She is also a founding member and pianist of several ensembles: the Aelia Duo (with Lacheva, a pianist), the Hall/Otamendi Duo (with trumpet virtuoso Ashley Hall), and the Reverón Piano Trio, a Venezuelan ensemble dedicated to the repertoire of standard, modern, and Latin American piano trios. Her recordings of Latin American chamber music and songs, released by IBS Classical and Centaur Records, have garnered widespread acclaim. Otamendi will release four albums with Mark Records, Reference Recordings, Bright Shiny Things, and Urtext Records between 2024 and 2025.
“The Department of Voice & Opera is excited to welcome Ana Maria Otamendi to our faculty,” said Stephen West, interim chair and professor of music. “Shaped and experienced by so many professional performance opportunities, elite opera companies, and coaching situations, she is also a graduate of the University of Michigan’s heralded collaborative piano program, where she will now carry on the traditions and wisdom of the renowned Martin Katz, with whom she studied. Brava!”
Following appointments at the prestigious Houston Grand Opera Studio and the Merola Opera Program of the San Francisco Opera, Otamendi became the head vocal coach of the Moores Opera Center at the University of Houston. She served as associate professor of collaborative piano at Louisiana State University from 2017 to 2024, where she created the doctoral program. In 2021 she won the Emerging Artist Award from the University of Michigan, the Rising Faculty Research Award from Louisiana State University, and the LSU Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award.
“As a Wolverine and a graduate of the collaborative piano program at the University of Michigan, it is a true homecoming to return to U-M as an associate professor,” shared Otamendi. “Taking the helm of this prestigious program to prepare its talented students for successful careers in music is a thrilling challenge, and I am looking forward to sharing my ideas and experience with all of them!”
Otamendi’s interests range from neuroscience and psychology applied to learning and practicing an instrument, to Latin American art song and chamber music. She has presented lectures and workshops about these topics around the world, including at Cambridge University, Yale University, Wolf Trap Opera, University of Michigan, University of Maryland, Aspen Music Festival, Universidade de São Paulo, the International Keyboard Collaborative Artists Conference, SphinxConnect Conference, and many more.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Universidad Simón Bolívar, a master’s degree in piano performance from the University of Wisconsin, an artist certificate from the University of South Carolina, and a doctorate in collaborative piano from the University of Michigan.