Finding Home in Music, The Story of Anne Madison

December 12th, 2025

When pianist and educator Anne Madison Carrier sits down at a piano inside the Omaha Conservatory of Music, she carries with her a lifetime of musical training that stretches from Nebraska City to Vienna and back again. Nearly 25 years after joining the conservatory’s faculty, Ann has become one of its foundational figures, someone who shaped not only the school as it grew, but thousands of young musicians along the way.

Her connection to music began long before she knew what a career even was.
“My baby book says that I would sit at the piano and bang on it and turn around to see if anybody was listening,” she recalls with a laugh. “So it must have been a passion from the very beginning.”

That early spark led to serious study, first at the University of Nebraska for her bachelor’s degree, then Baylor University for her master’s, and finally Vienna, where she completed an artist diploma at the world-renowned Vienna Conservatory. Studying among Europe’s top musicians, Ann found something she hadn’t expected.

“I had really amazing teachers all the way through,” she says. “And I think they inspired me to possibly want to be a teacher myself.”

But when she returned to the United States, armed with three degrees and years of elite training, she faced an uncomfortable question: What now?

“When I came back to the States, I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do,” she says. “Which sounds silly after you have three degrees in piano. But they were starting a new music school here, and I thought, well, if I teach here, I’m near my family, and I’ll have a little time to figure it out.”

What began as a temporary detour became her life’s work.

As the Omaha Conservatory of Music took its first steps, Anne took hers as an educator. The school grew. Her studio grew. And soon Anne found herself forming long lasting relationships with students who often start with her at age five and stay through high school graduation.

“We’re together, most of them, from when they’re five,” she says. “Those are beautiful, long relationships, and I’m so proud of them. I love the city of Omaha, that it supports this beautiful place, and feel so lucky to get to be a part of it.”

Next year marks her 25th anniversary at the conservatory, making her its longest-serving employee. Even as she continues to teach, Anne performs regularly as a substitute pianist with the Omaha Symphony and with the Omaha Chamber Music Society. But the heart of her work remains in the practice rooms, where she helps the next generation discover the same joy she found as a toddler turning around to see who was listening.

For Anne Madison Carrier, the journey from Vienna back to Nebraska wasn’t a retreat. It was a return to family, to community, and to the place where her life in music truly began.