Terrie Manno is a native of Santa Barbara, California.  She took her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in Piano Performance (summa cum laude) from California State University, Fresno.  In 1989 she received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Arizona, Tucson, in Piano Performance/Piano Pedagogy.  Her secondary area of doctoral study was Musicology, with James R. Anthony and John Boe.  Her artist teachers included Ms. Galina Michniuk, Roger Grove, Bob L. Bennett, Richard Faith, and Nicholas Zumbro.

In addition to teaching and performing, Ms. Manno continues her studies in a number of related areas.  She is a student of the Alexander Technique and a proponent of methods and innovations that lead to the development of injury-free piano technique.  

Ms. Manno undertook a European piano solo tour in 2000 that featured American piano music composed during the 1940's Red, White and Blues).  In 2001 she presented The Eternal Marriage of Music and Dance  in Sepino, Italy.  This recital featured piano music modeled after dance forms throughout the ages.  In 2003 she returned to Italy, performing the music of Edward MacDowell, Aaron Copland, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, James Harley, and David del Tredici in a program entitled Open Ears and Kaleidoscopic Vision:  American Piano Music and the New World Tradition.  She also presented a lecture-demonstration to the class of emerging concert pianists at the Academy of La Scala in Milan.  In 2005 Dr. Manno performed Fresh Voices:  New American Piano Music in the United States and in Italy.  This program featured works of composers Richard Faith, Elizabeth Faw Hayden Pizer, David Conte, David Hogan, Steve Heitzeg and Astor Pizzolla.

Ms. Manno has collaborated with composers Benjamin Boretz (b. 1934) and James Harley (b. 1959) performing their piano solos and ensemble pieces in the upper Midwest and in Italy.  In 2004-2005 she re-established collaborative ties with her former teacher, (composer and pianist) Richard Faith.

Ms. Manno is currently Professor of Piano and Coordinator of Keyboard Studies at Minnesota State University, Moorhead.  She is an active performing artist with a repertoire that spans several centuries.  Ms. Manno has toured as a piano soloist in the United States, Italy, Germany, and Switzerland.  She frequently performs new music, and specializes in presenting Lecture-Recitals that explore the correspondences between music and the arts within a historical context.