Born in California to musical parents, Connie Kim-Sheng began her piano studies with her mother at age three. Her father, Sheng Zhong-Xin, is a luthier/violinist and the youngest brother of late Chinese violinist Sheng Zhong-Guo. Kim-Sheng has been successful in many international and national competitions, achieving recognition for her musical sensitivity. Her awards include top prizes at the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition, Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Bronisław Kaper Awards for Young Artists, Virginia Waring International Piano Competition, Knigge Music Competition, and the New Orleans International Piano Competition, as well as finalist and special prizewinner at the Eastman Young Artists International Piano Competition. As a winner of the annual concerto competition at The Glenn Gould School of The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Ms. Kim-Sheng performed Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto with the Royal Conservatory Orchestra. She has also performed with the Rio Hondo Symphony, as a part of her first prize in the orchestra’s Young Artist Competition, and with the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra. She has also joined the Verde Valley Sinfonietta; California State University, Northridge (CSUN) Orchestra; and American Youth Symphony as a soloist. As a teenager, Ms. Kim-Sheng was awarded a prestigious Davidson Fellows Scholarship, which was established to support graduating high school students in music or the sciences, and she also received generous scholarships from the Young Musicians Foundation. When she was 13, she was featured on NPR’s From the Top.

Ms. Kim-Sheng has had the opportunity to work with preeminent musicians, such as Gary Graffman, Anton Kuerti, Menahem Pressler, Leon Fleisher, Robert McDonald, Seymour Lipkin, Stephen Hough, Arie Vardi, Julian Martin, Pavel Nersessian, and Robert Levin. After formally studying with John Perry for 10 years and receiving her bachelor’s degree from The Glenn Gould School, she then continued her studies with Hung-Kuan Chen and Meng-Chieh Liu at the New England Conservatory. She is currently a graduate teaching assistant pursuing her doctorate at the University of Southern California under the guidance of Jeffrey Kahane, while also studying conducting with Larry J. Livingston and harpsichord with Lucinda Carver.