Stephanie Cheng
Teaching Professor, Piano
303-871-6400 (Office)
http://www.stephanie-cheng.com
Newman Performing Arts Center, 2344 East Iliff Ave. Denver, CO 80208
What I do
Teaching Professor of Piano; Chair of Keyboard DepartmentProfessional Biography
Celebrated Taiwanese-American pianist Stephanie Shih-yu Cheng brings her "fearless" and "eloquent" artistry to 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 NPR, WFMT, Nippon Television, Radio Video Mediterraneo, 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" — and 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 holds degrees from the Peabody Conservatory and Stony Brook University, where she studied with Ann Schein and Gilbert Kalish, and was awarded the prestigious Prix-Ville de Fontainebleau, presented by Philippe Entremont. A devoted and transformative educator, she 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.
Currently serving as Teaching Professor of Piano and Chair of the Keyboard Department at the University of Denver's Lamont School of Music, Dr. Cheng was inducted into the Steinway & Sons Teacher Hall of Fame in 2025.
For further listening and information, visit stephanie-cheng.com. Stephanie is a Steinway Artist.
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" — and 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 holds degrees from the Peabody Conservatory and Stony Brook University, where she studied with Ann Schein and Gilbert Kalish, and was awarded the prestigious Prix-Ville de Fontainebleau, presented by Philippe Entremont. A devoted and transformative educator, she 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.
Currently serving as Teaching Professor of Piano and Chair of the Keyboard Department at the University of Denver's Lamont School of Music, Dr. Cheng was inducted into the Steinway & Sons Teacher Hall of Fame in 2025.
For further listening and information, visit stephanie-cheng.com. Stephanie is a Steinway Artist.
Degree(s)
- BM, Piano Performance, Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University
- DMA, Piano Performance, Stony Brook University
- MM, Piano Performance, Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University
Professional Affiliations
- Music Teachers National Association
- Pi Kappa Lambda
