Ana-Maria Vera was born in Washington, D.C. to Dutch and Bolivian parents. She began her musical studies with her mother at the age of three, made her professional debut when she was eight and has been performing around the world ever since. Acknowledged early on, her gifts were developed with the help of two superb teachers, Ylda Novik and Leon Fleisher. At the age of nine she made her nationally televised debut with the Boston Pops and the legendary Arthur Fielder, with whom she embarked on several American tours. At the age of eleven she recorded Mozart and Haydn piano concertos with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra under Edo de Waart, for which Philips awarded her a Gold Record. Later that year she was also invited to perform a recital at the White House for President and Mrs. Carter.

Vera has appeared as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, Netherlands Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra and Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, and with conductors Riccardo Muti, Yoel Levi, Edo de Waart, David Zinman, Eliahu Inbal, David Stern, Sergiu Commissiona, Maximiano Valdes, Michael Schønwandt, Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi and James Conlon. She is equally at home on both sides of the Atlantic, appearing in solo recitals at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Herkulessaal in Münich, Tivoli Theatre in Copenhagen, Salle Gaveau in Paris and at London’s Wigmore Hall. Over the past decade she has devoted much of her artistry to chamber music, developing close duo partnerships with major artists such as Ivry Gitlis, Steven Isserlis and Joshua Bell.

In February 2005, her debut in London’s Royal Festival Hall with the London Philharmonic Orchestra led to an immediate re-invitation to play with the orchestra in their next season. Reviewers have called her sound ‘luminous’ likening it to ‘pure aural silk’, remarking on her ‘dazzling pianistic virtuosity’ and ‘penetrating sensitivity’, with one review for her LPO performance of Ravel’s G major concerto stating that ‘The two outer movements glittered with fun, humour and superb pianism … the long opening passage [of the 2nd movement], where the piano is unaccompanied, spoke of serenity, distance, of eternity even’. Ana-Maria Vera is descended paternally from the Andean Aymara civilization and has in recent years organised a series of concerts in Bolivia, taking a select group of world-class colleagues to join local musicians and students to play a full range of chamber and orchestral concerts throughout the country. Memorable occasions have included outdoor concerts at Kalorko, a recently discovered site of dinosaur footprints, the Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt desert in the world, and amongst the pre-Incan ruins of Tihuanaku as well as in the theatres of La Paz, Sucre, Potosi and Cochabamba.

Ana-Maria now lives in London with her husband and daughter.