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, " Mr. Sheng is an artist of the highest quality". As a soloist, Mr. Sheng has performed with Insula Orchestra of France, Tenerife Symphony of Spain, Kazakhstan National Symphony, National Symphony of Cuba, 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, “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 termed Yuan Sheng “(China’s) premier interpreter of Bach.”

His understanding and command on harpsichord, clavichord and early pianos has also generated highest proclaim. Reviewing his All-Beethoven program on the Fredericks’ 1805 Katholnig piano, the Boston Music Intellegencer stated, “Sheng had absorbed this music so thoroughly that a listener might easily have imagined the composer at the keyboard.” Mr. Sheng has released more than twenty albums on Piano Classics, Brilliant Classics and NCPA Classics. His recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations on harpsichord (NCPA Classics) won 2019 CMIC Music Awards’ Best Classical Performance Award and his recording of works of Schumann on the Fredericks’ 1846 Streicher piano was nominated best records of Der Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik in 2022.

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, doctoral supervisor and director of piano major studies of the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music.