Phinney earned her D.M.A. in
piano performance/ensemble arts from
Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University.
She earned her bachelor's and master's of music
degrees at The Juilliard School. Phinney was an
artist-in-residence at Aspen. She served on the
piano faculty at the Musicorda String Festival in
Massachussetts. Her Carnegie Recital Hall debut
was in 1990. Phinney joined the Sarasota Music
Festival associate faculty in 1987.