Vienna Teng
(born Cynthia Yih Shih
on October 3, 1978) is a Taiwanese American pianist and singer-songwriter based in New York City. Teng has released four studio albums: Waking Hour
(2002), Warm Strangers
(2004), Dreaming Through The Noise
(2006) and her latest album, Inland Territory
, which was released in the United States on April 7, 2009.
Teng's musical style incorporates folk, pop, classical piano, and a cappella
. She uses piano as her primary instrument and writes lyrics with emotion, narrative, and personal history. Teng is a baseline alto, but sings over a wide range.
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Career
Teng took her stage name "Vienna" from the
capital city of Austria. A native of
Saratoga, California, she began playing
classical piano at age 5. While pursuing a degree in
computer science at
Stanford University, Teng joined the
Stanford Harmonics, a student-run
a cappella
group.
[1] She began recording her compositions at the studios in Stanford's
Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA), intending to distribute her music on campus. Many of these recordings were eventually released in her debut album
Waking Hour
. After graduating in 2000, Teng worked as a
software engineer for
Cisco Systems, but she continued to write music and perform in her free time. In 2002, Teng signed with
Virt Records and quit Cisco Systems to focus on her musical career.
Teng's first major national exposure was on
CBS's
Late Show with David Letterman
in January 2003. She has since made appearances on the
CBS Saturday
Early Show
,
National Public Radio's
Weekend Edition
,
CNN's
NewsNight with Aaron Brown
and
The Wayne Brady Show
, and opened concerts for
Joan Baez,
Shawn Colvin,
Joan Osborne,
Sarah Harmer and
Marc Cohn. Her first album,
Waking Hour
, peaked at #5 on the
Amazon.com bestseller list; her second album,
Warm Strangers
, reached as high as #2.
[2] [3] In 2006, Teng signed with
Zoë/Rounder.
[4]
From December 2006 to early 2007, she toured extensively in the United States to promote the release of her third album,
Dreaming Through the Noise
. Teng co-headlined with
Duncan Sheik and opened for
Madeleine Peyroux. She began the Green Caravan Tour in April 2007, accompanied by cellist Marika Hughes, violinist Dina Maccabee, and percussionist Alex Wong, along with opening acts such as
David Berkeley and
Jenny Owen Youngs. In 2008, she relocated from California to
New York City, and performed in
Central Park on
Earth Day at the
Green Apple Festival.
Music
Although nearly all of Teng's recordings are in English, the hidden track "
Green Island Serenade" on
Warm Strangers
is performed in
Mandarin Chinese. The song is a 1950's Taiwanese classic famously performed by
Teresa Teng.
Discography
- 2001: Waking Hour
- self-produced
- 2002: Waking Hour
- Virt Records
- 2004: Warm Strangers
- Virt Records
- 2006: Dreaming Through the Noise
- Zoë/Rounder
- 2009: Inland Territory
- Zoë/Rounder
Notes
- Alums
- Vienna Teng - News
- Rounder Records - Vienna Teng - Bio
- Zoë/Rounder Records Signs Vienna Teng
References
- Alums
- Vienna Teng - News
- Rounder Records - Vienna Teng - Bio
- Zoë/Rounder Records Signs Vienna Teng