Vanessa Cornett-Murtada is the Director of Keyboard Studies and Associate Professor of Piano and Piano Pedagogy at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis-St. Paul. An international clinician, she has presented workshops and master classes around the United States and in the U.K., Canada, Ireland, Italy, Serbia, Croatia, Greece, Argentina, and Taiwan. She is an active clinician for national conferences of the Music Teachers National Association, National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, and College Music Society. She has also presented at the World Piano Conference, International Society of Music Education World Congress, International Conference of the Arts in Society, Annual Symposium of the Performing Arts Medical Association, the Centre for the Study of International Governance, and at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum.

Her publications include book chapters in the fourth edition of Creative Piano Teaching, papers in American Music Teacher, the MTNA eJournal, Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education, College Music Symposium, Clavier Companion, and The Canadian Music Teacher / Le Professeur de Musique Canadien. She received outstanding teaching awards from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the Music Academy of North Carolina.

She earned her D.M.A. in piano performance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and her B.M. in piano performance and M.M. in piano pedagogy from West Virginia University. She is a licensed hypnotherapist and a certified meditation instructor who specializes in the treatment of performance anxiety for musicians. Her current research focuses on mindfulness, musician health and wellness, and mental skills training for performers.