Connor Rohrer
Connor Rohrer’s earliest memories of the piano go back to his grandmother’s house, where he discovered a player piano with scrolls of Broadway songs from the 1930s and ’40s. To this day, musicals are a throughline of inspiration for him.
When Connor was five, his mother noticed his interest in the piano and enrolled him in his first lesson. Over the next decade, he studied with Ed Smith, the organist at a local church in central Pennsylvania, where Connor grew up.
Connor developed his technique through classical repertoire, playing public recitals at the church. Ed often had him play on Sundays, handing him new music to sight-read. Sight-reading remains one of his greatest strengths as a jazz artist.
Connor was also a multi-instrumentalist, playing bassoon and trombone. In high school, he considered pursuing a career as a bassoonist, until jazz pianist Kirk Reese introduced him to bebop and jazz records. The virtuosic, improvised spontaneity of albums like “Sonny Side Up” drew him in, and he committed to jazz piano at fifteen.
Connor relocated to Florida to attend the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. He describes his time there as a “rapid transformation” overflowing with opportunities that expanded his experience as a pianist.
Extended Bio
Pianist, arranger, and composer Connor Rohrer has toured with Grammy Award–winning vocalist Samara Joy since 2022—a role that has taken him to many of the world’s foremost stages. Connor earned his first Grammy as a featured musician and arranger on her album “Portrait,” named Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2026.
He was a second-place finalist in the 2023 Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz International Piano Competition, as well as a recipient of DownBeat Student Composition Awards.
Connor’s artistry deepened most rapidly during his BM and MM studies at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, where he also served as a teaching assistant and studied jazz piano under Martin Bejerano and Shelly Berg. He gained a reputation as a collaborative jazz pianist and was highly requested for performances and arrangements—experience that laid the foundation for his touring work with Samara Joy.
As a multi-instrumentalist, Connor found his passion for jazz piano at fifteen while studying with Kirk Reese, a professor at Messiah University. His earliest introductions to the great swing, bop, and hard-bop traditions came through records like “Sonny Side Up” and jazz standards by Frank Loesser. His musical sensibilities reach well beyond jazz, listening to orchestral scores by Stravinsky, Ravel, and Debussy, which inspire his view of the piano as a vast orchestra of its own.
Connor’s 2025 performances have spanned major international festivals and venues, including the Montreux Jazz Festival, the BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, and the Philharmonie de Paris. Over the course of his career, he has also appeared at leading stages in the Netherlands, Australia, Denmark, Germany, Japan, and Austria, and, in the United States, at the Newport Jazz Festival and Carnegie Hall.
As a sought-after collaborator, Connor has appeared as pianist and keyboardist on more than twenty albums and EPs over the past five years. He has recorded with bassist Ron Carter and saxophonist Dayna Stephens, and has shared the stage with Charles McPherson, Anat Cohen, and Arturo Sandoval. His arranging and scoring work have extended to the orchestral world, including writing for the Boston Symphony and the BBC Concert Orchestra. Connor composes and performs with the mindset that music should, above all, feel good for the artist and their audience.