Anne Shih was born in Edmonton, Alberta as the eldest of three sisters who all became internationally renowned classical musicians. Her parents both came from the province of Shandong, but grew up in Taiwan. Both are liberal intellectuals in the education field. They were engaged in Taiwan but married in Canada where all three daughters were born and raised. Anne began formal violin lessons in Washington, USA, gave her recital debut in Vancouver and made her debut with the Calgary Philharmonic a year later. Equally prodigious as a pianist, she has won prizes at many of the important national competitions, on both instruments. She was also awarded the Salzburg Mozarteumspreis.

Mentored by the legendary Josef Gingold at Indiana University from 1986-91, Anne Shih became Gingold’s last teaching assistant. She was recipient of the university’s 1988 International Student Academic Achievement Award for outstanding scholastic performance and received her BM and her MM with highest honours. She has also worked with, assisted and performed with Denes Zsigmondy in Seattle, USA as well as in Germany, Italy, Hungary and Austria.

Anne’s solo and chamber music performances as a violinist, violist and pianist have taken her to concert halls across North America, Europe and Asia. Her chamber music partners have included Julianne Banse, Giacomo Battarino, Julius Berger, Roger Chase, Lluis Claret, Jose Gallardo, Josef Gingold, Oliver Kern, Oleg Krysa,  Robert McDonald, Hartmut Rohde, Guido Schiefen, Connie Shih, Andor Toth, Tilmann Wick, Sung Won Yang, Denes Zsigmondy, and the Borealis Quartet.  The international press have hailed her as  “Brilliant and Virtuoso”, “Germanys’ next Superstar”, “Virtuoso and Spiritual” and “Phenomenal” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany).

Festival collaborations as interpreter and lecturer have included the Casalmaggiore International Festival, the Auer Music Festival, the Algonquin Music Festival, Kincardine Festival, the Holzhausen Musiktage, Musik der Welt in Pforzheim, the Euro Arts Festival, Salzburg Summer Festival, Eckelshausener Musiktage and the International Beethovenfest in Bonn.

Highly sought after as a pedagogue, Anne Shih lectures in numerous masterclasses throughout North America, Europe and Asia – including China, Korea and Taiwan – and is frequently asked internationally for consultation online. In 1991 (at the age of 22), Anne was appointed visiting professor at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, later becoming member of Faculty and Chairperson of the String Department at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music. In 1997, Shih was appointed one of the youngest ever tenured Full Professor of Violin in Germany at Hochschule für Musik Mainz, a position she still holds today together with serving as Head of the Strings Department. Several of her students have won top international prizes, such as the Haydn, Melbourne, Yfrah Neaman, Marschner, Spivakov, Bartok of the World and Yankelevich International Competitions. Many of her students now hold leading positions in orchestras throughout Europe, North America and Asia, including the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra Moscow, Goeteborg Symphoniker, SWR Sinfonie Orchester, Philharmonia Opolska, Suwon Philharmonic, Colorado Symphony, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Opera Colorado, etc. Anne has also served as a jury member at Canadian and international competitions.

Shih is Artistic Director of the  Mainzer Virtuosi, a youth ensemble comprising fifteen international musicians from 13 different countries and rapidly garnering international attention due to their their excellence and passion. Mainzer Virtuosi perform at leading halls in Europe such as Cadogan Hall in London, the Kurhaus in Wiesbaden, Casalmagiore Festival and St. John’s Smith Square. They have recorded three CDs to date – one under the Sheva label. A fourth will be coming later this year.

Before taking up duty with Mainzer Virtuosi, Shih was Artistic Director of the Wisconsin Virtuosi, which she co-founded in 1994 with Douglas Gowan as well as Director and Conductor of the ensemble International Strings. She also conducted the Hochschulorchestra in Mainz.

In addition, Anne Shih regularly presents the Mainzer Virtuosi as well as other young rising stars in concerts in the UK, and elsewhere in Europe. In 2003, Shih co-founded Norfolk Concerts, serving as Artistic Director from 2003 - 2013, actively promoting music in schools in the Norfolk area.  From 2010, she took over as Artistic Director of the Casalmaggiore International Festival, largely helping to broaden the Festival’s horizons and garnering loyal audience, alumni and reputation across the globe. In 2018, she founded a second festival, Musiktage am Rhein in Germany working with the LMAK Rheinland-Pfalz, focusing on mentorship, education and cultural exchange between east and west.

She has been Vice-Chairman of the Society for Friendship between China and Germany since 2016. She is presently working on a global educational project, Ming Shih Academy (MSA) with a team of professionals from the USA, Europe, and Asia.

Anne Shih plays on a Giuseppe filius Andrae Guarnerius of 1711.