Sandra Wright Shen

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Sandra Wright Shen, a concert pianist, was born in Taiwan. Her father Harold Wright was an American businessman in Taiwan and her mother Sandy Lin Wright was a housewife of Taiwanese descent^{[citation needed]}. 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 . 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, Lev Nauomov and Rebecca Penneys and studied chamber music with Earl Carlyss. Sandra’s passion for chamber music took her to Germany and Austria during the summers from 1995-1998, where she worked under the direction of the Alban Berg Quartet, Jörg Demus, and Grant Johannesen.

Sandra has made guest appearances throughout U.S. and Taiwan. Her chamber concerts have included a concert tour throughout Asia with cellist Nina Kotova, and chamber concerts tour in Taiwan with Vesselin Paraschkevov, former concert master of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

Sandra’s activities as a piano teacher include a two-year appointment at Rollins College Community School in Winter Park, Florida 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 FM 99.7 IC Radio Station. She was invited to be on the judge panel on the National MTNA South West division piano competitions in January 2005. Sandra served as Piano Lecturer at Southern Illinois University School of Music in Carbondale, Illinois for the 2004-2005 school year.

[edit] Competitions

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.

[edit] Recordings

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's Rock Records Music label.