Penelope Cashman, piano

Collaborative pianist Penelope Cashman draws audiences into vivid worlds of song, the shared human experience of poets and composers across time and culture. Her performances have been compared to “a Turner painting… iridescent” (GlamAdelaide). She has performed with singers at the Haus der Musik (Vienna), Ukaria Cultural Centre (SA), and the Holywell Music Room (Oxford). Her extensive repertoire ranges from Strauss and Puccini to Boulanger, Cawrse and Price.

During the 2024 season Penelope gave four world premiere performances of vocal chamber works, including two at the Adelaide Town Hall for Chamber Music Adelaide’s Perspectives series. Other recent projects include “And the Earth Turns” a semi-staged recital with soprano Bethany Hill, supported by Chamber Music Adelaide’s “Space to Create”.

Penelope’s credits include serving as pianist for the WAAPA International Art Song Academy and the Bel Canto in Tuscany Summer Opera School (Italy). Opera work has taken her to the Pieve di San Leolino (Chianti, Italy), Theater Akzent (Vienna), and the Festival Theatre (Adelaide). As music director and pianist for Opera Queensland’s Moving Opera she performed for 22 schools and communities across Queensland. She has led chamber productions of The Old Maid and the Thief and Suor Angelica for Mopoke Theatre. As repetiteur for State Opera South Australia, she has played for productions including Così fan tutte and Madama Butterfly.

Penelope was adjudicator at the 37th National Liederfest (Melbourne) and has presented guest masterclasses at The University of Waikato Conservatorium of Music (NZ), the Elder Conservatorium, and for Co-Opera. A fluent German speaker, she teaches German and Italian lyric diction at the Elder Conservatorium. Her academic research regarding 19th century Viennese song repertoire and lyric diction pedagogy has earned awards from the Viennese Ministry of Culture and the University of Adelaide respectively. 

Penelope studied a masters in song accompaniment at the Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien (Austria) under Dr Carolyn Hague and Kammersängerin Birgid Steinberger. She twice attended the Franz Schubert Institut, studying with the world’s leading song interpreters including Elly Ameling, Sarah Walker, Barbara Bonney, Robert Holl, Edith Wiens, Julius Drake, Roger Vignoles and Wolfram Rieger. Significant mentors included song pianists Graham Johnson and Rudolf Jansen. Penelope holds a PhD from the University of Adelaide and is also a graduate of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam (The Netherlands), and the Australian National University.