Dr. YiFan Shao (Gabbie) is a concert pianist, educator, and interdisciplinary researcher whose work bridges classical performance, theatrical expression, and cross-cultural inquiry through interdisciplinary practice. An active performer, she has appeared at venues including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, with an international performance career spanning Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and North America. Her repertoire encompasses canonical piano literature alongside contemporary works and collaborative projects, reflecting a sustained engagement with interpretive depth and evolving performance contexts.

Dr. Shao holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance from Stony Brook University (State University of New York), as well as degrees from the Central Music School of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Mannes School of Music. In addition to her previous teaching at the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division and Stony Brook University, she has delivered guest lectures and lecture-recitals at institutions including the University of Oxford, New York University, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and the Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence. She currently serves as Lecturer and Artist-in-Residence at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, where her research explores the interdisciplinary convergence of music and artificial intelligence, examining how AI-driven technologies reshape artistic practice and inform contemporary approaches to education across cultural contexts.