Connor O’Kane

Biography

A versatile musical
collaborator.

Black-and-white portrait of Connor O’Kane

Prizewinner in the 2022 CMC Stepping Stone, Connor O’Kane is a highly sought-after pianist, conductor, chamber musician, and vocal coach.

Following his concerto debut with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony in 2014 under the baton of Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser, he has appeared as a recitalist in the United States, France, and across Canada. He is regularly invited to perform in such concert series as the Canadian Opera Company Noon Concert Series, Sundays at Chateau Windrush, Noon at St. Andrews Toronto, Ottawa Chamberfest, and the Banff Centre Summer Arts Festival. He has also made recent appearances as a guest artist in noon hour concerts at Brock University, Western University, and the University of Waterloo.

A passionate collaborative musician with a special affinity for opera, Connor has enjoyed success as a music director, conductor, vocal coach, and répétiteur. In 2024–25 he joined the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music as music director of Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges and Debussy’s L’enfant prodigue, and assistant conductor of Die Zauberflöte. Other recent conducting credits include Carmen (Toronto City Opera), Albert Herring (Western University), and St. Matthew Passion (the Banff Centre). Connor has had the privilege of working closely with many leading figures in Canadian opera, including Adrianne Pieczonka, Joel Ivany, Alexander Shelley, Jennifer Tung, Alain Trudel, and Alexander Weimann.

A champion of Canadian and contemporary music, Connor is a proud member of the art-song duo Evergreen alongside renowned soprano Natalie Image. Evergreen is dedicated to uncovering and presenting works from the vast and burgeoning realm of Canadian art song. Their comprehensive recording project has already seen the completion of residencies at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and the Canadian Music Centre in Vancouver, generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts. From 2024–2026, Connor also performed in a series of four-hands piano recitals with Ryan Baxter, highlighting the four-hands piano sonatas of Australian composers Carl Vine and Stuart Greenbaum. The first of these recitals represented the Canadian premiere of both works.

Connor is currently on faculty at Wilfrid Laurier University as a coach-accompanist, working with both violin studios as well as Laurier’s concert and chamber choirs. He has also held appointments as an assistant professor of piano at Western University and as an opera conductor and music director at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music. Connor completed a Doctor of Musical Arts at Western University in 2023, studying with Stéphan Sylvestre. His previous teachers include David Jalbert, Heather Taves, and Joan Walker, with additional training at the Conservatoire de Lyon in the studio of Manuel Schweizer. He has been awarded the SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship, Canada Graduate Scholarship, and Ontario Graduate Scholarship.

Connor is a passionate teacher and maintains a small private studio in Kitchener-Waterloo. He is frequently invited to serve as an adjudicator at provincial and local music festivals, including the Ontario Music Festivals Association, Toronto Kiwanis Music Festival, Hamilton Kiwanis Music Festival, Kitchener-Waterloo Kiwanis Music Festival, Pickering Rotary Music Festival, and the Guelph Kiwanis Music Festival. He is an active member of the Ontario Registered Music Teachers Association and the Canadian Music Festival Adjudicators Association.

Connor O’Kane seated at a grand piano during a photo session