Born to a musical family, Connie Kim-Sheng has always and only known a life of music. Her father, Zhong-Xin Sheng is a respected violinist, teacher, and luthier in Los Angeles and the youngest brother of the late Zhongguo Sheng. The entire family in her father’s side are musicians, mostly violinists, and significant figures of violin performance and pedagogy in China. Her mother, Juli Kim, ran a successful private teaching piano studio for decades. She gave Connie daily three-hour lessons when she was three years old; only a mother could have such patience. Her mother remained her primary teacher until she was accepted into John Perry’s private studio at eleven years old.
At twelve years old, Connie performed her debut solo concert and has since graced the stage throughout the States and internationally, including Canada, China, Spain, Poland, Germany, and Australia. She has appeared on NPR’s From the Top and attended the selective Morningside Music Bridge program multiple times. In high school, she received a Davidson Fellows Scholarship, a competitive award that supports young students to pursue their studies at a high level.
Connie was successful at her first major international competition, the Virginia Waring International Competition, at fifteen years old and had her solo debut with orchestra performing Prokofiev’s first piano concerto. This performance was the first of many: Connie has been a featured soloist with YMF Debut Orchestra, Northridge Orchestra, Rio Hondo Symphony, and Verde Valley Sinfonietta. Her awards include top prizes at the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition, Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Bronislaw Kaper Awards for Young Artists, Knigge Music Competition, and the New Orleans International Piano Competition for Young Artists, 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, Connie performed Rachmaninoff’s second piano concerto in Koerner Hall with the Royal Conservatory Orchestra.
An experienced chamber musician, Connie has attended prestigious music programs which emphasize the study of chamber music as well as solo repertoire, such as the Ravinia Steans Institute, Kneisel Hall, Aspen Music Festival, Orford Music Festival, and Sarasota Music Festival. Through these institutions she has had the honor of working with legendary musicians Leon Fleisher, Miriam Fried, Julian Martin, Seymour Lipkin, Arie Vardi, and other such high caliber artists.
Among her many passions, pedagogy has been especially fulfilling. Being able to merge her love of music with working with young, bright, and curious minds, has been a transformative experience for her own journey as a musician. The greatest music making demands ambition and humility, and as a lifelong student in the face of this pursuit, Connie has found that teaching supports this ambitious journey in understanding how best to express the many characters, nuances, and colors that make beautiful music or, as she deems it, magic. Connie emphasizes the accomplishment of this goal in her teaching, alongside the study of technique and control at the keyboard, which is necessary in order to be truly successful at such a challenging and subtle task. Alongside members of her piano trio, she has been invited as faculty to the Montecito Music Festival and the Amici International Music Festival. Among their other musical accomplishments, her students have performed in Westerbeck Hall at Pasadena City College and Carnegie’s Weill Hall in New York. They have also been successful prizewinners in the Satori and SYMF competitions.
Connie is one of the founding members of the Monterey Piano Trio and has the honor of performing with her husband Ben Fried and her friend Strauss Shi. As a trio, the group has performed throughout Los Angeles with much success. Within months of their formation, they were invited as an Ensemble-in-Residence at the Heifetz Institute.
After receiving her bachelor’s degree from The Glenn Gould School with full scholarship under the guidance of John Perry, she continued her graduate studies with Hung-Kuan Chen and Meng-Chieh Liu at the New England Conservatory. She is in the process of completing her doctorate degree from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, studying with Jeffrey Kahane. While at USC, Connie served as a graduate teaching assistant, running group piano classes and private lessons, and completed minor fields in conducting with Larry J. Livingston and harpsichord performance with Lucinda Carver.
Most recently, Connie and her husband Ben founded Fried Music, a creative space that strives to encourage the highest level of music making in students of all backgrounds. Along with an intimate and renovated performance space, the school will serve as a musical center in the heart of downtown Alhambra.
conniekimsheng@friedmusic.com