Steve Barry & Joe O’Connor

Piano Duo

Steve and Joe met in 2011 at a weekend of workshops for emerging jazz pianists at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM). In the intervening years, they have both emerged as unique voices on the cutting edge of the Australian jazz scene. They placed 1st and 2nd at the 2013 National Jazz Awards at Wangaratta Festival of Jazz and Blues amid a competitive field of Australia’s most accomplished emerging pianists.  

Since this time, they have both completed doctoral studies exploring the nexus of improvisation and classical composition of the 20th and 21st centuries. Their collaboration began in 2018 as a natural outgrowth of their common interests and they have used various performances in Sydney and Melbourne as opportunities to develop and present ambitious music for two improvising pianists.