Praised as a “highly accomplished pianist...with wonderfully rhythmic and robust playing” (New York Concert Review), Dr. Katelyn Vahala is a passionate soloist, chamber musician, educator, and arts advocate in the Los Angeles area.

Katelyn’s recent highlights include being a 2023-24 Piano Spheres Emerging Artist, for which she performed a solo recital of contemporary music and gave the West Coast premier of Daniel Temkin’s Rise and the World premier a new work for solo piano by composer Corey Dundee. Previously in the summer of 2022, Katelyn was a Finalist in the Leipzig International Bach Competition, where she performed as a soloist with the Mendelssohn Kammerorchester Leipzig, playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 14 in E-flat Major, KV 449. In addition to winning the 2021 USC Thornton Concerto Competition, Katelyn is the first prize winner of the 2019 Rosalyn Tureck International Bach Competition, where she also won the Contemporary Music Award. Other recent performances include appearances with the Brightwork New Music Ensemble, Wicked Goat, and the LA Phil Composer Fellowship Program. 

In addition to Baroque and contemporary music, one of Katelyn’s greatest passions is chamber music. As pianist of the Callisto Piano Trio, Katelyn was a prize winner at the 2016 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, where the trio was the youngest ensemble to ever compete in the senior division finals. The Callisto Trio also toured throughout Holland and Slovakia as part of the International Holland Music Sessions’ Masters on Tour and served as Artist-in-Residence at the Da Camera Society in Los Angeles.

Katelyn’s performances have taken her to locations such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Het Concertgebouw, Salzburg’s Mozarteum, Bratislava’s Reduta Philharmonic Hall, St. Petersburg’s Union of Composers, Porto’s Casa da Música, and LACMA’s Bing Auditorium. Her past collaborations include performances with artists from the Juilliard String Quartet, American String Quartet, and Horszowski Piano Trio, as well as appearances with the Tandru Trio and the Julius Quartet. She has attended the Yellow Barn Young Artists Program, Perlman Music Program, Colburn Academy Piano Festival, Port Townsend Chamber Music Workshop, and Maine Chamber Music Seminar. 

At home, Katelyn enjoys finding ways to share music in unique ways. As Artistic Director and Co-Founder of the traveling outdoor concert series Insert Music Here, Katelyn curated musical programs to take outside the concert hall and into nature in the Southern California area through partnerships with the Eaton Canyon Nature Center, Ojai Valley Land Conservancy, and LA Times Festival of Books. She currently works as a co-curator of the Wicked Goat concert series at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music to introduce students to the world of contemporary music.

In addition to her performance career, Katelyn is a USC Thornton School of Music faculty member, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate Keyboard Literature and coaches Young Artist Projects. She is also a member of the piano faculty at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music, where she teaches young pianists and chamber ensembles. Katelyn holds Doctorate, Masters, and Bachelors degrees in Piano Performance from the USC Thornton School of Music, where she studied with Dr. Lucinda Carver and Jeffrey Kahane.