Education
Dr. Ru-Fen Shen, born in Taipei, Taiwan went to study at the Music Department of Soochow University after graduating from Kuang-Jen Music School. There, she studied with Wille Peter-Rolf and Dr. Mei-Luan Chen. She graduated as the first award in Piano Performance of that year. After working one year at the Music Department as teaching assistant, she went to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to study her Master of Music. From 1986-89, she received the M.M. in Piano Performance and the M.M. in Piano Pedagogy. She studied piano with Richard Simm and Dr. Kenneth Drake, the famous teacher of playing Beethoven’s Music, harpsichord with Dr. William Heiles, and Piano Pedagogy with James Lyke, one of the most famous pedagogues in the United States. She studied at Claremont Graduate University to pursue her Doctoral of Musical Art (DMA) degree. There, she studied with Dr. Charles Asche. She was the winner of the PCSO Concerto competition, playing Mozart Piano Concerto in C, K. 467 with the Pomona College Symphony Orchestra. She is currently a member of the MTAC (Music Teachers’ Association of California) and a judge for MTAC annual Certificate of Merit evaluation.