Pittaway began playing the cornet at the age of six with guidance from his father who was also a cornet player and grew up playing in Salvation Army brass bands. He holds a Bachelor of Music Performance from the Victorian College of the Arts (V.C.A.) in Melbourne and a Master of Music from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Whilst at the V.C.A. he studied tenor trombone with Ken McClimont and bass trombone with Eric Klay of the Melbourne Symphony and then completed his studies with Charlie Vernon and Michael Mulcahy of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Before moving abroad, Shannon Pittaway was an active freelancer in Australia performing on tenor and bass trombone with the Melbourne Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Canberra Symphony, Tasmanian Symphony and the State Orchestra of Victoria. He was also a member of the Australian Youth Orchestra that toured China in 1998. Later that year, he was a finalist of the International Trombone Association's Lewis Van Haney Competition and following that in 1999, a semi-finalist of the International Bass Trombone solo competition in Guebwiller, France. After completing his studies in Chicago, he was a fellow of the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra in Sapporo, Japan.

In 2004, Shannon Pittaway took up the position of bass trombone and contrabass trombone with the Finnish National Opera, most notably performing Wagner's Ring Cycle on the contrabass trombone. Whilst in Europe, he toured with the Finnish Radio Orchestra and the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra. He has received awards and grants from the Foundation for Young Australians and the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust.

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Updated on 01/06/2009