“Dr. Shen tells Chinese stories with his international musical language beautifully”– Sohu Music. Newly appointed Assistant Conductor of the Grand Rapids Symphony occupying Maggie Coleman Chair, Shen is a passionate and versatile conductor. He has been praised for his appealing style in leading orchestral groups in both China and the United States. A native Chinese from Beijing, Shen came to the United States in 2008 to pursue his musical dreams.

Shen has served as assistant conductor to such renown conductors as Marcelo Lehninger, JoAnn Falletta, Carlos Kalmar, and Vinay Parameswaran. He was hired as staff conductor at CIM immediately upon graduation and served as rehearsal conductor, assistant conductor and cover conductor while leading subscription concert. Shen was also invited as cover conductor at Buffalo Philharmonic and first call cover conductor at Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra.

Shen remains passionate about his violin career. He was praised for his performance with the Capital City Symphony in DC. As a member of the Northern Lights Music Festival this summer, he led orchestra performed numerous concerts as concertmaster. He also performed chamber music concerts as well as solo music concerts during the festival. As a chamber musician, Shen founded and toured with the Beijing-based piano Trio “Tongyan” throughout China.

A strong advocate for new music, Shen has performed and premiered numerous newly composed pieces both as a conductor and violinist with different groups such as the CIM New Music Ensemble, District New Music Coalition, and TEMPO at Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.

As a music teacher and administrator, Shen served as the Assistant General Manager at the Master Players Festival, a two-week music festival for both domestic and international music students. Shen’s duties included facilitating the festival’s day-to-day operations, student life, giving violin lessons, and assisting guest conductors and artists.

Shen’s conducting mentor include: Vinay Parameswaran, Carlos Kalmar, JoAnn Falletta, Carl Topilow, and the late Michael Jinbo. As a conductor, Shen has collaborated with such orchestras as: Grand Rapids Symphony, Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, The University of Maryland Symphony Orchestra, The University of Delaware Symphony Orchestra, New Symphony Orchestra (Bulgaria) and Pazardjik Symphony Orchestra (Bulgaria). Shen Holds a Professional Studies diploma in Orchestral Conducting from the Cleveland Institute of Music, a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Violin from University of Maryland, College Park, a Master and a Bachelor degree in Violin Performance from University of Delaware.

updated Aug 2022