Anna Billias Lecturer in Music, Collaborative Pianist

Wilson Hall 4025
540-458-8272
billiasa@wlu.edu

Anna Billias was trained as a concert pianist at the Prokofiev State Academy of Music in Donetsk, Ukraine (originally the Prokofiev Conservatory of Music) and graduated with advanced degrees in both performance and instruction for piano. During her school tenure, Dr. Billias performed with the school’s symphony orchestra as a featured soloist and frequent accompanist throughout the Donetsk Oblast. Dr. Billias received her D.M.A. in piano performance from Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, VA.

Dr. Billias is a Lecturer in Music and Collaborative Pianist at Washington and Lee University. She was formerly an assistant professor and the Director of Piano Studies and Collaborative Performance and an instructor of Russian language at Sweet Briar College. Since joining the faculty at Washington and Lee University, Dr. Billias has formed the duo “Anima e Grazia” with cellist Julia Goudimova. Recently Dr. Billias was honored to join the Marlbrook Chamber Players, a well-regarded ensemble in the greater Rockbridge area, as a pianist. Dr. Billias has performed in numerous concerts at venues including Sweet Briar College; Hampden Sydney College; Lynchburg College; Liberty University; Randolph College; Eastern Mennonite University, Shenandoah Conservatory; James Madison University; in London, England; in Paris, France; in Derry, Ireland; in Oahu, Hawaii; in Crimea, Russia; and Donetsk, Ukraine. She has performed in Lynchburg for fundraising events for the Forte Chamber Music Festival, Opera on the James and for the Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra. She has been invited to judge CVMTA competitions, is a frequent jurist for musical events in Amherst, Lynchburg, and Charlottesville, and regularly volunteers her time performing at local retirement communities.

Pre-COVID, Dr. Billias has performed at the Augusta Correctional Center as a public service project. Dr. Billias has recently had one of her collaborative pieces with Kevin and Bryan Matheson featured in a documentary about Scottish poet and lyricist Robert Burns. In her spare time, she is the music director at a local church in Lynchburg, VA, and runs a growing private piano studio. Dr. Billias is passionate about visual arts, horseback riding, ballroom dancing, and is currently pursuing her black belt in karate. For many years, Dr. Billias has enjoyed serving as an accompanist for the Rockbridge Youth Chorale in Lexington, VA, and has recently been appointed the Director of the Children’s Choir. She is the proud mother of three musically gifted children and a “Glam-ma” to her toddler granddaughter, and her husband, Christopher, is presiding District Judge in the Lexington, Rockbridge and Waynesboro courts.