Pianist, composer, vocalist, liturgist, Deanna Witkowski is at home in multiple musical languages and cultures—Brazilian music, classical music, jazz—and in a variety of venues—churches, festivals, and concert halls. She has performed in the United States, Brazil, Israel, and Japan. Acclaimed as a jazz musician and winner of the Great American Jazz Piano Competition, she will both perform and reflect on her music for the Shannon Lecture Series audience.

A native of Webster, NY, Witkowski earned an M.A. in jazz piano performance at City College of New York and has appeared on National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition Sunday and Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz. Her albums include Having to Ask (2000), Wide Open Window (2003), and Length of Days (2005). Her most recent release, From This Place (2009), draws on scripture, the Mass, 19th-century poetry, and original verses to create music that is at once contemporary and sacred.