Katharina Bleier, born in Vienna, studied piano and instrumental teaching at the J. M. Hauer Conservatoire in Wiener Neustadt (Eugenie Russo), at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg (Brian Lamport) and at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna (Harald Ossberger and Michael Lipp), where she graduated with distinction. She also studied musicology at the University of Vienna and graduated with distinction from her PhD studies on extended piano techniques. Perspectives on selected piano works 1981–2018  at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.

She has taken part in numerous masterclasses in Austria and abroad (including the VIP Academy, European Academy in Montepulciano, Allegro vivo, Klavier intensiv/Rudolf Kratzert) and was a prizewinner in piano duet at the Austrian International Chamber Music Festival. Solo concerts and chamber music appearances. Her repertoire focusses on 20th and 21st century music, with special consideration given to exploring phenomena of the extended piano while establishing a connection between art and science. 

In addition to her performance work, Katharina Bleier has also taught the piano in Vienna and is currently a lecturer at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. She was also General Secretary of the Austrian Composers’ Society and in 2014 she worked for the European Composers’ Forum. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher and Co-editior (The Correspondence between Arnold Schönberg and his Publishers Universal-Edition and Verlag Dreililien. A Critical Hybrid Edition) at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, working at the Center for Research on Arnold Schoenberg and the Viennese School at the Department of Musicology and Performance Studies.