Sandra Wright Shen (仙杜拉), a world-renowned concert pianist, was born in

Taipei, Taiwan Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

. She received her

Bachelor of Music Bachelor of Music (BM or BMus) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree, and the majority of work consists of prescr ...

in 1994 with a piano performance major and organ minor from the

Peabody Conservatory of Music The Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, The Johns Hopkins University is a Private university, private music school, conservatory and College-preparatory school, preparatory school in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1857 and ...

, where she studied with Ann Schein. In 1996, she completed her Master of Music in piano performance and also served as an Ear-Training graduate teaching assistant to Peabody professor Clinton Adams. She has performed in master classes with

Jerome Lowenthal Jerome Lowenthal (born February 11, 1932) is an American classical pianist. He has served as chair of the piano department at the Juilliard School in New York. Additionally, Lowenthal is on the faculty at Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbar ...

André Watts André Watts (born June 20, 1946) is an American classical pianist and professor at the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University. In 2020, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society. Life and early performances Born in Nuremberg ...

, Lev Nauomov, and

Rebecca Penneys Rebecca Penneys (born 1946) is an American-born pianist of Russian-Ukrainian-Jewish descent. She is a recitalist, chamber musician, orchestral soloist, educator, and adjudicator. In 1965, she was the youngest contestant to have ever entered the Inte ...

and studied chamber music with Earl Carlyss. Wright Shen's passion for chamber music took her to Germany and Austria during the summers of 1995–1998, where she worked with the

Alban Berg Quartet The Alban Berg Quartett was a string quartet founded in Vienna, Austria in 1970, named after Alban Berg. Members Beginnings The Berg Quartet was founded in 1970 by four young professors of the Vienna Academy of Music, and made its debut in ...

Jörg Demus Jörg Wolfgang Demus (2 December 1928 – 16 April 2019) was an Austrian classical pianist who appeared internationally and made many recordings. He was also a composer and a lecturer at music academies. In composition and playing, he focused on ...

, and

Grant Johannesen Grant Johannesen (July 30, 1921 – March 27, 2005) was an American pianist. Biography Johannesen was born in Salt Lake City and discovered at the age of five by a teacher who lived across the street. He imitated whatever he heard her play, a ...

. Wright Shen has made guest appearances throughout the U.S. and Taiwan. Her chamber concerts have included a concert tour throughout Asia with cellist

Nina Kotova Nina Kotova is an American cellist of Eastern European decent. As well as being a versatile artist and an established composer she is a recording artist who performs both as a soloist with major orchestras and as a chamber musician. Education K ...

and chamber concert tours in Taiwan with Vesselin Paraschkevov, former concertmaster of the

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra The Vienna Philharmonic (VPO; german: Wiener Philharmoniker, links=no) is an orchestra that was founded in 1842 and is considered to be one of the finest in the world. The Vienna Philharmonic is based at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. Its ...

. Wright Shen's activities as a piano teacher include a two-year appointment at

Rollins College Rollins College is a private college in Winter Park, Florida. It was founded in November 1885 and has about 30 undergraduate majors and several graduate programs. It is Florida's fourth oldest post-secondary institution. History Rollins Colle ...

Community School in

Winter Park, Florida Winter Park is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 30,183 according to the 2022 census population estimate. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Winter Park was fo ...

from 1997 to 1999; she has also performed, taught, and given master classes at numerous schools in Taiwan. In the 2002-2003 season she hosted a Classical Radio Program for the FM 99.7 IC Radio Station. She was invited to serve on the judge panel of the National

MTNA Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) is an American nonprofit professional organization for the support, growth, and development of music-teaching professionals, with more than 17,000 members in 50 states, and more than 500 affiliated loca ...

South West division piano competitions in January 2005. In addition, Wright Shen served as Piano Lecturer at the

Southern Illinois University Southern Illinois University is a system of public universities in the southern region of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its headquarters is in Carbondale, Illinois. Board of trustees The university is governed by the nine member SIU Board of Tr ...

School of Music in

Carbondale, Illinois Carbondale is a city in Jackson and Williamson Counties, Illinois, United States, within the Southern Illinois region informally known as "Little Egypt". The city developed from 1853 because of the stimulation of railroad construction into the ...

for the 2004-2005 school year. She has also served on the piano faculty at the

Brevard Music Center Brevard Music Center is a classical music venue and festival held annually located in Brevard, North Carolina. It has been the home to their international summer institute and festival that enrolls about four hundred students, age fourteen and o ...

since 2006. Wright Shen is a

Steinway Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in Manhattan by German piano builder Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth led to the opening of a ...

Artist.

Competitions

Wright Shen has won first place in many major piano competitions, including the 1997

Hilton Head International Piano Competition The Hilton Head International Piano Competition is a piano competition held annually since 1996 at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina's First Presbyterian Church. Selected list of jurors * Joseph Banowetz * José Feghali * Peter Frankl * ...

, the 1996 Mieczyslaw Munz Piano Competition, and the Taiwan National Piano Competition. She also garnered second prize in the Peabody Russell Wunderlich Piano Competition and won the Peabody Frances M. Wentz Memorial Prize in Piano.

Recordings

Wright Shen's recordings include her debut CD featuring

Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one o ...

's Third Piano Concerto, recorded live, and the Saint-Saëns ''

Carnival of the Animals ''The Carnival of the Animals'' (''Le Carnaval des animaux'') is a humorous musical suite of fourteen movements, including "The Swan", by the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. The work, about 25 minutes in duration, was written for private ...

'', both released on Taiwan's

Rock Records The Rock Records Co., Ltd. () commonly known as Rock Records (), is a record label based in Taipei, Taiwan. Founded in the 1980s as the Rock Music Publishing (滾石有聲出版社; ) by Tuan Chung-tan and Tuan Chung-i, It is the largest record ...

Music label.

References

External links

*http://www.sandrashen.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright Shen, Sandra 1972 births Living people Peabody Institute alumni Rollins College faculty Southern Illinois University Carbondale faculty 21st-century American women pianists 21st-century American pianists