Internationally acclaimed pianist Shelley Ng has performed extensively as a soloist and in chamber ensembles on three continents in many of the world’s most renowned venues including Carnegie Hall (New York), the Seiji Ozawa Hall (Tanglewood), Harris Hall (Aspen), Milton Court, Hong Kong City Hall, and Hong Kong Cultural Centre. 

Ms. Ng is a two-time Fellow at the prestigious Tanglewood Music Festival, where she also appeared in the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music. Her time at Tanglewood included transcription and performance of piano solo of the Concert for Piano and orchestra by John Cage, Rzewski’s Coming Together, Oliver Knussen’s Sonya’s Lullaby in his tribute concert, Bernstein’s Piano Trio in his 100 celebration and performances under the batons of Andris Nelsons, Thomas Adès and Gemma New as the principal piano, celeste, and harmonium. She performed in the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival upon the invitation of noted composer, pianist and conductor Marc Neikrug. She has performed in other international festivals including the Aspen Music Festival and Taiwan International Festival of Arts. 

During the 2021/2022 season, Shelley was invited by the Consulate of the Czech Republic to perform on the National Day of the Czech Republic with the attendance of consul generals from various countries. She gave solo recitals in Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and Magnolia, Texas where she also gave a masterclass. In the same month, she performed Chopin Piano Concerto No.1 with the CityU Philharmonic Orchestra in addition to being featured on WHRB, Harvard Radio Broadcasting and Radio Television Hong Kong. Shelley gave a lecture recital on Messiaen’s Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus in the HKU MUSE series of The University of Hong Kong. Beyond solo performances, she toured the USA, Canada and Mexico with the piano quartet in residence on Lincoln Center Stage. Shelley’s avid interest in the creation of new works and the presentation of engaging concert repertoire has allotted her the opportunity to give the world premiere of The Happy Family and Songs of Virotopia by Daniel Lo and perform works by Lachenamnn and Beat Furrer in Hong Kong Cultural Center. 

A devoted musician of varied interests, Shelley has been pushing her limits as a pianist.  In addition to extensive concerts of piano literature, she continually explores off-the-beaten path pieces like Medtner’s Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor.  In recent seasons, Ms. Ng has centered her place as an interpreter of new music scores and has premiered numerous works.  She also incorporates improvisation into relevant concert repertoire. Ms. Ng’s chamber music expertise has led to performances alongside eminent artists Jacob Greenberg, Michael Webster, Richard Brown, and musicians from the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, LA Opera, and San Francisco Opera. She also played unusual repertoire including a recital of Klezmer tunes and a performance of George Antheil’s Ballet Mechanique for four pianists and eleven percussionists.  Pushing towards the outer limits of piano repertoire, she enjoys exploring different keyboard instruments such as the harmonium, synthesizer, celeste, accordion, toy piano and the harpsichord.  

Shelley is a laureate of international competitions such as the International Music Competition Salzburg Grand Prize Virtuoso, Shepherd School Concerto Competition, the St. James Chamber Prize (United Kingdom), and the Alice and Eleonore Schoenfeld International String Competition. She appeared as a concerto soloist with the Hong Kong Symphonic Winds, CityU Philharmonic Orchestra and Hong Kong Medical Association Orchestra.  She has also performed for numerous world-renowned artists in masterclasses including Emmanuel Ax, Robert Levin, Peter Serkin, Garrick Ohlsson, Paul Lewis, and Sylvia Rosenberg. 

Beyond her regular performance activities, Shelley’s fascination with interdisciplinary collaborations has led her to perform and improvise with dancers of the USC Kaufman School of Dance, London Contemporary Dance School and actors from Television Broadcasts Limited, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and The Shadow Players.  As an avid advocate of outreach programmes, she has performed for diverse audiences including underprivileged children and victims of domestic violence.  She also performed in the UN International Day of Peace Ceremony and Gandhi Peace Concert. In 2016, she curated an autism awareness benefit concert featuring music by composers that showed autistic traits, interspersed with narration from the perspectives of autistic children.

Shelley is currently associate musician of the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble. Before accepting this position, Shelley studied at the USC Thornton School of Music in Piano Performance with Bernadene Blaha.  During her studies, she was the staff pianist of studios of Midori Gotō, Pamela Frank, Bing Wang and Margaret Batjer.  Shelley earned her Master’s degrees from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with distinction under the tutelage of Katya Apekisheva and subsequently from Rice University, where she taught piano and chamber music. She was awarded the First Class Honours Bachelor’s in Music from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, where she was on the Faculty of Arts Dean’s List in all three years of her studies. Her primary teachers Virginia Weckstrom in the United States, Nancy Loo in Hong Kong and coaches Cho-Liang Lin and Norman Fischer have become important mentors in her music career.   

2022-present Associate Musician, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble

2020- 2022 Emerging Artist, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble

2019-20, 2021-22 Pianist, Lincoln Center Stage

2018-19 Staff Pianist, USC Thornton School of Music

2018, 2019 Piano Fellow, Tanglewood Music Center

2017-18 Staff Pianist, Piano Instructor, Chamber Music Coach, The Shepherd School of Music Preparatory Program

MMus (Rice), MMus (Guildhall), FRSM, FTCL, BA (CUHK)