Beijing Central Conservatory of Music

Yuan Sheng has gained international recognition through his extensive performances in more than twenty countries. New York Times wrote that “Mr. Sheng’s ear for balance is unfailing……the attraction was entirely visceral.” New York Concert Review proclaims that" Mr. Sheng is an artist of the highest quality" The renowned music author David Dubal states that: “Just listen to him, you will be touched!” 
 
Mr. Sheng has performed in Carnegie Hall in New York, Cadogan Hall in London, Ford Performing Arts Center in Toronto, Seoul National Center for the Performing Arts as well as National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing, and Shanghai Concert Hall in Shanghai, China. He has been heard and seen on WQXR in New York, WGBH in Boston, NPR in U.S.A, National Radio Station of Spain, National Radio Station of France, National Television of Poland, China Central TV, and Beijing Music Radio.
 
As a soloist, Mr. Sheng has performed with Tenerife Symphony of Spain, Oradea State Philharmonic of Romania, Kazakhstan National Symphony, National Symphony of Cuba, National Philharmonic of the Philippines as well as China Philharmonic. As a chamber musician, Mr. Sheng he has performed with the Shanghai String Quartet, violinists Aaron Rosand, Arnold Steinhardt, Vadim Repin, as well as cellist Andres Diaz.
 
Mr. Sheng’s performances and research on the music of Bach have attracted international attention in recent years. The New York Times said that “The A major and A minor Preludes and Fugues from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier Book I, were models of clarity, balance and proportion. That is not to say that they were straightforward or unmediated: Mr. Sheng made the A minor Prelude into a fiery drama, with the equally energetic but stunningly voiced Fugue as an otherworldly rejoinder.” The International Piano Magazine, considered Yuan Sheng “The nation (China)’s premier interpreter of Bach.”
 
His understanding and command on harpsichord, clavichord and early pianos has also generated the highest proclaim. In reviewing his recital of All-Beethoven program on an 1805 Kathonig piano, the Boston Intellegencer states that“Sheng had absorbed this music so thoroughly that a listener might easily have imagined the composer at the keyboard.” 
 
Mr. Sheng records under Piano Classics label and NCPA (China National Center for the Performing Arts) Record label. His six CD recordings of works by Bach and a Three-Disc Set of works by Chopin performed on an 1845 Pleyel piano have been released internationally. His recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations on harpsichord (NCPA Classics) won 2019 CMIC Music Awards’ Best Classical Performance Award.
 
Born to a family of musicians in Beijing, Yuan Sheng began his music studies with his mother at age five, continuing them later at the Central Conservatory with Professors Qifang Li, Huili Li, and Guangren Zhou.  From 1991 to 1997 Yuan Sheng was a scholarship student of Solomon Mikowsky at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, where he completed his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. His interest in the music of Bach inspired him to study intensively with Rosalyn Tureck.  
 
Yuan Sheng is a professor of piano at the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music.