Celebrated Taiwanese-American pianist Stephanie Shih-yu Cheng brings her captivating artistry to leading stages across the globe — from Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall and the Dame Myra Hess Series in Chicago to Tokyo's Opera City Hall, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the National Concert Hall in Taipei. Her playing has been featured on National Public Radio, WFMT, Radio Video Mediterraneo, Nippon Television, and MSNBC.

 

Her solo album Ravel: Masterworks for the Piano (Centaur Records) was hailed as "a massive achievement… one of the finest Ravel discs to have come my way for quite some time" — praised as "required listening for Francophiles." She is also heard on Summit Records' License to Thrill and has performed alongside luminaries such as Leon Fleisher and Sara Davis Buechner.

 

Dr. Cheng earned her Doctor of Musical Arts from Stony Brook University under Gilbert Kalish, and her Master's from the Peabody Conservatory under Ann Schein — where she received the Rose Marie Milholland Award. She was awarded the prestigious Prix-Ville de Fontainebleau, presented by Philippe Entremont.

 

A passionate and transformative educator, Dr. Cheng has taught at the Manhattan School of Music Precollege, the City University of New York, and the American University of Kuwait — where she made regional history as the first pianist to conduct a concerto from the keyboard. Her students have gone on to win national and international competitions and study at leading conservatories. She is regularly invited to give masterclasses and adjudicate across the U.S. and abroad.

 

Currently Teaching Professor of Piano and Chair of the Keyboard Department at the Lamont School of Music, University of Denver, Dr. Cheng serves on the Board of Directors of The Allied Arts, Inc., a nonprofit supporting young artists, is Co-Director of the Denver Chamber Music Festival Adult Chamber Workshop, and is on faculty at the Euro Arts Music Festival in Szczecin, Poland. In 2025, she was inducted into the Steinway & Sons Music Teacher Hall of Fame.

 

Stephanie Cheng is a Steinway Artist.