Steinway Artist Sandra Wright Shen has been described as a classical pianist of the first order. With her passion, musicality, and inspiration, she aims to move hearts through music.Sandra has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in 14 countries and throughout the US, at prestigious venues such as the Kennedy Music Center in DC, the Chicago Cultural Center, the Monte Carlo Opera House, Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, Frankfurt Cultural Center in Germany, and the Forbidden City Concert

Hall in Beijing, Taiwan National Concert Hall, Korea Seoul Arts Center, Hong Kong City Hall, Granada Intl Music Festival, Rencontres Musicale de Chaon in France, Brevard Music Festival, Tanglewood BUTI, Chelsea Music Festival, and Masterworks Music Festival. As a guest artist, she has appeared with the Charleston Symphony, the Hilton Head Symphony, the Redlands Symphony, the Brevard Festival Sinfonia, the New Millennium Orchestra, the Greater San Diego Chamber Orchestra, the Formosa Philharmonic Orchestra, the Taiwan National Symphony, the Taipei Symphony, and others. Shen was the Artist-In-Residence of the Charleston Symphony for the 2017-18 season. She has played chamber concerts with Vesselin Paraschkevov, former concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and with Amos Yang, Assistant Principal Cello of San Francisco Symphony, Brinton Smith, Principal Cello of Houston Symphony, and bassoonist Sergio Azollini. She has also performed on tour in Asia with cellist Nina Kotova.

Shen has received several first prizes in several major piano competitions, including the 2012 France International Piano Competition, the 1997 Hilton Head International Piano Competition, the 1996 Mieczyslaw Munz Piano Competition, and the 1990 Taiwan National Piano Competition.

Her recordings include her debut CD featuring Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto, and the Saint-Saëns “Carnival of the Animals”, both released on the Taiwan Rolling Stone Music label. “Momentum”, with cellist Miriam Smith, was released in 2022 on Azica Records.

As an educator, Shen is the Piano Chair of San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Pre-College Piano Lecturer at Stanford University starting Fall 2025, and a Faculty member at the Masterworks Festival. She served as guest faculty for Tanglewood BUTI Young Artist Piano Program and on the piano faculty at the Brevard Music Festival, Steinway Society Summer Music Camp, Music @Tetauchi, American Fine Arts Festival in Europe, and more. She also served as piano faculty at Southern Illinois University and has been frequently invited to be a Distinguished Guest Faculty at Furman University. Her students have received top prizes from various competitions, including the International Piano Competition of Orléans for youth in France, the Chopin Foundation, American Virtuoso International, and more.

Sandra performed live for WCQS radio station in Asheville, filmed a 4-part series titled “The Movements of the Master composers” for Hong Kong TV, and “Inspiration From Above” featuring the spiritual lives of the composers for US Creation TV. She also hosted a classical music program on the Taiwan IC broadcast radio station. Mixing music and philanthropy, Sandra has played benefit concerts for disaster victims, foster children, firefighters, and music education for underprivileged children.

Sandra was born in Taiwan and received her Bachelor’s and Master’s of Music with a major in piano performance and minor in organ from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, where she studied with legendary pianist Ann Schein and organist Donald Sutherland. Her teachers include Zalina Gurevich and Oleg Barsov, Raymond Hanson, Dr. Michael Dellinger, Jorg Demus, Ruth Slencynska, Thomas Laratta, Erna Gulabyan, and Haggai Niv. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Sixteen-year-old pianist Tristen Chen began his musical journey at the age of five. He currently attends the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre-College, where he majors in piano under the tutelage of Sandra Wright Shen. Tristen has garnered numerous accolades in piano competitions. Most recently, he was awarded the silver medal at the 2024 San Francisco International Piano Competition (Junior Artist) and was named the Northern California 1st Alternate in the 2024 MTAC Concerto Competition. In 2023 and 2022, he received 1st prizes at the US Open Music Competition in both solo and duo categories.

In 2024, Tristen was featured on NPR’s “From The Top,” performing Liszt’s La Leggerezza. He also won 1st prize in the 2024 MasterWorks Festival Concerto Competition, which led to a performance of Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Masterworks Orchestra. Tristen has been invited to perform at various prestigious events and venues, including San Jose NoonArts & Lectures in 2024 and 2025, as a guest artist for a Cadence Collective Foundation fundraising concert in 2025, at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in 2018, and at the opening ceremonies of the Sonoma International Film Festival in 2019 and 2018. His musical development has been further enriched through chamber music studies at the California Music Preparatory Academy (2023-2024) and participation in the John Perry Academy of Music Summer Festival (2017, 2018) and the MasterWorks Festival (2021-2024). Tristen has had the opportunity to participate in masterclasses led by renowned artists such as Jon Nakamatsu, John Perry, Ning An, Slava Gryaznov, Wael Farouk, Melinda Lee Masur, Xun Pan, Siheng Song, Lishan Hung, and Heidi Williams.

Eighteen-year-old Ariel Chien began her piano studies at the age of 8 with Megan Chen and continued with Daniel Cheng. Since 2021, she has studied with Sandra Wright Shen. She recently graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre-College and will attend Stanford University in the Fall.

Ariel is a 3-time Scholarship Recipient of the Chopin Foundation of the United States and a winner of the 2024 National YoungArts in Classical Music/Piano. She is the prizewinner of numerous piano competitions, including Laureate of the 2023 Ross McKee Foundation Piano Competition, third prize of the 2023 Arthur Fraser International Piano Competition, second prize of 2022 Marilyn Mindell Piano Concerto Competition, first prize of 2022 piano showcase of United States Open Music Competition, and honorable mention and best Bay Area contestant of 2021 San Jose International Piano Competition. She was the top prize winner of the 2018-2020 and 2023 United States International Music Competition (USIMC). She was selected as the First Alternate Contestant for the 2025 National Chopin Piano Competition.

Ariel has performed in numerous events. In 2023, she performed three solo recitals featuring all Chopin programs, including a performance and lecture at NoonArts and Lectures and solo recitals at SFCM and Luzhou KHS Concert Hall in Taiwan. As the winner of the Golden State Youth Orchestra Piano Concerto Competition, she performed the Chopin Concerto No. 1 with the Camilla Kolchinsky Orchestra in the 2022-23 season. She was invited and performed at the San Francisco Symphony Silicon Valley League opening concert in 2022.

Ariel participated in several renowned piano and chamber music summer festivals and programs, including the 5th and 6th Frost Chopin Festivals in Miami, the 2023 Southeastern Piano Festival, the 2022 and 2023 Young Performers Program at Music@Menlo, and the 2022 Piano Texas International Festival and Academy. Ariel has performed in masterclasses with acclaimed pianists, including Yuja Wang, Emanuel Ax, Jon Nakamatsu, Tamas Ungar, John Perry, Ann Schein, Ning An, and Sasha Starcevich. She received instruction from Dang Thai Son, Katarzyna Popawa-Zydroń, Kevin Kenner, Edward Auer, Ruth Slenczynska, Olga Radosavljevich, Antonio Pompa-Baldi, and Wu Han.

As a versatile pianist, Ariel is an active chamber musician and performs in the Contemporary Music Ensemble at SFCM. In addition to her music studies, Ariel enjoys playing badminton, table tennis, and hanging out with her friends.

The Aveta Trio is the 2021 Gold Medal winner of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition (Junior Division). Formed in 2020 through Young Chamber Musicians, the Trio is coached by Susan Bates and Jeffrey LaDeur. They have performed at the San Francisco International Piano Festival (2021 & 2022), the Rossmoor Chamber Music Society – Next Generation series, the New Millennium Series at Sacramento State University, and SF Music Day at the War Memorial Veterans Building in San Francisco. They also appeared on NPR’s From The Top in October 2022.

Sarah studies computer science, Chinese language, and piano performance at Princeton University, where she is under the tutelage of Francine Kay. Elliott, also at Princeton, studies computer science and finance while continuing cello studies with Julia Lichten at the Manhattan School of Music. Eunseo is pursuing degrees in physics and mathematics at Columbia University.