Kate Shao, piano

Meet Kate

Kate performs on Show 449.

Kate Shao (piano), 15, from Albuquerque, New Mexico, is a tenth grader at La Cueva High School. She studies piano with Tatyana Bayliyeva at the Albuquerque Institute of Music.

Kate has won top prizes at various national and international competitions, including first prize at the Brooklyn Music Teachers’ Guild Intercontinental Piano Competition, Golden Key Piano Competition, Rocky Mountain Music Competition, 21st Century Talents Music Competition and second prize at the American Protege Piano Competition. Kate has been invited to perform in New York City and Toronto, and at Carnegie Hall three times starting from when she was 11. On the state level, she won first prize at the Music Guild of New Mexico’s Jackie McGehee Young Artists Competition with the grand prize of $2,500 and a solo performance opportunity with the New Mexico Philharmonic Orchestra, first prize at the New Mexico Honors Auditions, and first prize at the Eastern New Mexico University Piano Competition.

Outside of music, Kate participates in Speech and Debate where she won the state competition for Original Oratory speech in 2024 and qualified and competed at Nationals in 2023. Her other hobbies include running and swimming for fun.