Ana Filipa Ferreira

Ana Ferreira is a pianist, artistic researcher, and piano teacher. She holds a PhD in Music (Performance) from the University of Aveiro (2026), completed under the supervision of Professor Jorge Salgado Correia, with a doctoral thesis entitled Sounds of Macao: Exploring a Transcultural Performative Approach to Áureo Castro’s Piano Works. She also holds a Master’s degree in Music Teaching from the University of Aveiro (2021) and a Master’s degree in Education from the University of Saint Joseph, Macao (2016).

Following her undergraduate studies, she pursued advanced studies in piano performance at the University of Hartford (USA), studying with renowned pianists Luiz de Moura Castro and Oxana Yablonskaya. She further developed her expertise in piano performance and chamber music through studies with internationally acclaimed pianists and participated in music festivals in Andorra, Switzerland, and Macao. She also attended the International Summer Course at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where she studied under Professor Irina Plotnikova and was selected to perform in the prestigious Rachmaninoff Hall.

At the University of Saint Joseph in Macao, she held a teaching position and worked as a research assistant, contributing to projects including Piano for Everyone. She completed her Master’s degree in Education with a dissertation entitled Music Training Influences on Brain Development and as a Tool for Learning Improvement. Throughout her artistic career, she has performed piano recitals in Macao and Portugal. In June 2017, she received the Excellent Teacher award at the 21st Japan Hamamatsu Piara Competition, in recognition of her pedagogical achievements.

Her research encompasses two complementary fields: artistic research in musical performance and piano pedagogy research. In the former, she explores transcultural approaches to musical performance, embodied knowledge, and improvisation as practices of artistic creation and musical knowledge production. In the latter, she investigates the relationships between music, cognition, and learning, with a particular focus on emotional engagement, motivation, and the application of neuroplasticity principles to piano teaching and learning.

Alongside her teaching and performing activities, she regularly presents her research at national and international conferences, lecture-recitals, and artistic performances.