Pronounced a ‘real talent’ by the Wall Street Journal and finalist for Limelight’s 2024 Artist of the Year, ARIA Award-nominated Australian pianist Andrea Lam has thrilled audiences from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House with works from Bach, Chopin, Mozart and Schumann to Aaron Jay Kernis, Liliya Ugay and Nigel Westlake.
Making her orchestral debut at age 13 with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Andrea has performed with leading conductors including Sir Donald Runnicles, Alan Gilbert, Eivind Aadland, Michael Christie, Wing-sie Yip and Simone Young, and frequently collaborates with artists including cellist Matt Haimovitz, the Takács Quartet, Ani Kavafian and the Australian String Quartet.
Andrea featured in the Sydney Opera House’s International Piano Day 2020 and 2022 livestreams, New York City’s Chelsea Music Festival (including the world premiere of The Clarke Variations by Ninfea Cruttwell-Reade) and the Smithsonian Museum (Washington, DC). Andrea also performed at private birthday celebrations for actor Natalie Portman. Recent highlights include engagements with the Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmanian and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras, a critically acclaimed national tour of Bach’s Goldberg Variations for Musica Viva Australia and recitals for Sydney Opera House’s Utzon Music Series, the 2023 ABC Classic 100 concert and Adelaide Festival including the world premiere performances of Ngapa William Cooper with music by Nigel Westlake and Lior.
In 2025, Andrea headlined the ABC’s new television series The Piano, watched by over one million viewers each week, alongside Harry Connick Jr. and doyenne of Australian media, Amanda Keller. Andrea also enjoys soloist engagements with the Sydney, Melbourne and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras with renowned conductors including Simone Young, Jaime Martín and Benjamin Northey, and as soloist at the Grand Teton Music Festival (USA) at the invitation of Sir Donald Runnicles. Andrea performed in the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s Myer Music Bowl series before an audience of 8,000 and returned for Classic 100 concerts at Arts Centre Melbourne with the MSO, broadcast on ABC iView. She performs in chamber concerts with the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, Australia Ensemble at UNSW and the Goldner Quartet, and plays in regional festivals such as the Four Winds Easter Festival, where Andrea takes on the dual role of Artistic Curator and performer.
In May 2025, ABC Classics released Andrea’s new solo album, Piano Diary, remaining for weeks at #1 on the ARIA Classical and Classical/Crossover charts, and selected as featured album on both ABC Classic and Fine Music FM.
Lecturer in Piano at Melbourne Conservatorium of Music (University of Melbourne) and board director of the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM), Andrea was a semi-finalist in the 2009 Van Cliburn Competition, Silver Medalist in the 2009 San Antonio Piano Competition, winner of the ABC's Young Performer of the Year Award in the Keyboard section and the Yale Woolsey Hall Competition. Andrea holds a Bachelor of Music from the Manhattan School of Music and Artist Diploma and Master of Music from Yale University.