Anna Goldsworthy is one of Australia’s leading cultural figures: an award-winning pianist, writer, and arts leader whose work spans music, literature, education, and the future of artificial intelligence.

She is Dean of the Elder Conservatorium of Music and School of Performing Arts at Adelaide University, and will become Artistic Director of the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) in 2027.

Anna is the author of the bestselling memoir Piano Lessons, which won Newcomer of the Year at the Australian Book Industry Awards and has been published internationally in North America, Germany, Korea, Vietnam, and China. Her acclaimed novel Melting Moments was published in 2020, and her writing for the stage includes the libretto for Graeme Koehne’s opera A Christmas Carol (Victorian Opera, 2022) and the play Welcome to Your New Life, based on her motherhood memoir of the same name (State Theatre Company South Australia, 2023). Her latest book, The God We Made: The Threat and Promise of Artificial Intelligence, was published as Quarterly Essay in 2026, exploring the profound implications of AI for creativity, education, work, and what it means to be human.

As a concert pianist, Anna performs throughout Australia and internationally as both soloist and chamber musician. She is a founding member of Seraphim Trio, whose recordings include the ARIA Award-winning Thirteen Ways to Look at Birds (with Paul Kelly, James Ledger and Alice Keath) and Trio Through Time. She has also directed numerous music festivals including the Port Fairy Spring Music Festival, the Coriole Music Festival, and the Music & Mountains Festival in Queenstown, New Zealand.

A sought-after speaker, Anna brings together the perspectives of performer, author, educator and institutional leader to illuminate topics including creativity, leadership, education, classical music, the arts, and the opportunities and challenges posed by artificial intelligence. In 2024 she delivered the prestigious ABC Boyer Lectures on the future of classical music.