*Sandra Wright Shen* was born in Taiwan and came to the United States to further her studies in music. She received her Bachelor of Music in 1994 with a piano performance major and organ minor from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Ann Schein and Donald Sutherland. 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 performed in Master Classes with Jerome Lowenthal, Andre Watts, and Rebecca Penneys and studied chamber music with Earl Carlyss and the Juilliard String Quartet. After graduation, she sought further training in the Russian style of pianism with Zalina Gurevich and Oleg Barsov from 1996-1999. Shen’s passion for chamber music took her to Germany and Austria during the summers from 1995-98, where she worked under the direction of the Alban Berg Quartet, Jörg Demus, and Grant Johannessen. In 1998 she participated in the Taiwan International Music Festival, studying with the legendary Russian professor, Lev Nauomov.
Sandra has made guest appearances with the Taiwan National Symphony Orchestra, the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, the Redlands Symphony Orchestra in California, Philharmonia Moment Musical in Taipei and the Young Artist Chamber Concert Series at the Kennedy Music Center in Washington DC. Solo recital appearances have included the Texas Conservatory for Young Artists, the Peace Center in Greenville SC, the Steinway Society Concert Series in San Jose CA, and solo recital tours throughout the US and Taiwan. Her chamber concerts have included a concert tour throughout Asia with cellist Nina Kotova, and chamber concerts in Taiwan with Vesselin Paraschkevov, former concert master of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
Sandra has won first prizes in several major piano competitions, including the 1997 Hilton Head International Piano Competition, 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. Other awards include a scholarship from International Community Radio Taiwan and a full tuition graduate teaching assistantship in Ear Training at Peabody Conservatory.
Sandra’s recordings include her debut CD featuring Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto, recorded live, and the Saint-Saëns “Carnival of the Animals”, both released on Taiwan Rock Music label. She has since recorded 3 other CDs on the Ode to Joy Music label.
Sandra currently serves on the piano faculty of the Brevard Summer Music Institute, with a previous appointment at Southern Illinois University. She has also performed, taught, and gave Master Classes at numerous schools in Taiwan.
Sandra’s dedication to philanthropy has led to her playing benefit concerts for disaster relief for the 2008 China Sichuan earthquake, orphanages in Taiwan, foster children in the Northern California area, children’s education, and assisted-living patients throughout the US and Taiwan. Sandra also helped organize a camp for children orphaned in the 1999 Taiwan earthquake. At this camp she taught them how to appreciate classical music, play basic instruments, and counseled them through their grief. She has also played benefit concerts for several faith-based organizations, exploring the spiritual lives of the great classical composers.
As an ambassador of classical music, Sandra has taught classical music appreciation to a wide-ranging audience: from elementary school students, to CEOs of major companies, to advanced students of classical music, to children with Down Syndrome and autism and severe mental retardation, to orphans, to senior citizens in the twilight of their years. In Taiwan she was the host of a classical radio program for FM 99.7 IC Radio. Sandra is currently working on a classical music program to be broadcast on PBS.
