Eileen Downey is currently Senior Lecturer of Collaborative Piano at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, where she is a vocal coach and collaborative pianist, as well as a rehearsal pianist for Knoxville Opera.  She will be traveling to Austria this summer to be a vocal coach for the AIMS in Graz program.  In January of 2021, she served as Music Director for An Opera for Terezín, an international experimental production of Liliane Atlan’s play involving groups from Israel, France, and the United States. Prior to cancellations due to Covid-19, Eileen was engaged to be a pianist for the National Association of Teachers of Singing National Conference and the American Viola Society Festival during the summer of 2020. 

Ms. Downey held the positions of chorusmaster, vocal coach, and most recently, music director for the Janiec Opera Company at the Brevard Music Center for the summer seasons of 2013-14, and 2016-19.  She has been an accompanist for the Middle/East Tennessee Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions since 2012, and has been a pianist for the International Tuba and Euphonium Conference and the Tennessee Cello Workshop.  Eileen is an alumna of the Merola Opera Program and worked as a staff accompanist for AIMS in Graz in 2011.  Other programs in which she has been involved include Opera North, SongFest, Aspen Opera Theater Center, Project Canción Española, and the Opera Theatre and Music Festival of Lucca, Italy.  Ms. Downey received a bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance and a master’s degree in Collaborative Piano from Michigan State University.