Vienna comes to Edmonds

Although she has studied classical piano from the age of five, there’s nothing old-world about the music of Vienna Teng, which incorporates folk, pop, and classical piano. Teng performs at the Edmonds Center for the Arts Friday, Oct. 30.

A native of Saratoga, Calif., 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.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 in San Francisco, 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 number 5 on the Amazon.com bestseller list; her second album, “Warm Strangers,” reached as high as number 2. Her latest album, Inland Territory, was released in April 2009.