Born into a family of musicians in Salzburg, Cornelia Herrmann studied with Imre Rohmann in Salzburg, Noel Flores in Vienna and Ferenc Rados in Budapest, and drew further inspiration from Alexander Lonquich, Murray Perahia, András Schiff and recently Alfred Brendel.

In 1996 she was the youngest finalist and winner of the International J. S. Bach Competition in Leipzig, and in 1999 gained a special award at the International Mozart Competition in Salzburg. In 2002 she gave her début at the Salzburg Festival. 

Further engagements have taken Cornelia Herrmann to venues including the Zurich Tonhalle, Victoria Hall in Geneva, KKL Lucerne, Liederhalle Stuttgart, Gewandhaus Leipzig, City Hall Heidelberg, Large Festival Hall in Salzburg, Brucknerhaus in Linz, Auditorio Nacional Madrid, Museum of Art in Tel Aviv, Aksanat Istanbul, Sala Sao Paulo, Museo Nacional de Arte Mexiko City, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Vienna Musikverein and Vienna Konzerthaus.

Cornelia Herrmann has performed with the Linz Bruckner Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Israel Chamber Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, MDR Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonie Cosmopolitaine, Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, Staatsphilharmonie Halle, Vienna Chamber Orchestra and Vienna Chamber Philharmonic, under distinguished conductors such as Christian Arming, James Judd, Manfred Honeck, Sir Neville Marriner, Sir Roger Norrington, Stefan Sanderling, Hubert Soudant, Claudius Traunfellner, Milan Turkovic, Pinchas Steinberg and Marcello Viotti.

Cornelia Herrmann is also a sought after chamber musician. Her partners are Christian Altenburger, Franz Bartolomey, Mirijam Contzen, Patrick Demenga, Christoph Genz, Michel Lethiec, Marko Ylönen, Gewandhaus Quartet Leipzig.

In 2010/11 Cornelia Herrmann played a Recital Tour troughout Japan and also worked together with the Gewandhaus Quartet Leipzig. She appeared a.o. at Palau de la Musica Barcelona, at Vienna Konzerthaus and at Music Festivals such as 'Loisiarte', 'Schwäbischer Frühling', 'Schloss Cappenberg', 'Grafenegg'. In 2011/12 she performed amongst others with the Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen under Ola Rudner, the Florida Orchestra under Stefan Sanderling and the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra under Fabio Luisi.

In January 2013 her new recording with J.S.Bach's French Suites has been released. In 2013 Cornelia Herrmann will play concerts a.o. in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Nagoya, Tokyo, Washington, Toledo, Annapolis, Hongkong, Montreal and Vienna.