Sheli Nan composes music that defies boundaries. She is a composer, teacher, pianist, harpsichordist, and percussionist. She has played in many different environments: Spain, Mexico, Cuba, and Argentina. She has studied with many great teachers and draws musical threads from different cultures. Her Baroque and Classical training, coupled with Salsa, Latin Music, and Nigerian Afro-beat with musicians both in the United States and abroad has influenced her unique sound, i.e., a 21st Century harmony.
What is said of her music now is that it is immediately recognizable as the music of Sheli Nan. She has created her own musical language and her largest influences have been Bach, Bernstein, and Copland and musicians she has performed with from Baroque to Rock’n’roll to Cuba and Africa.
Her music is performed locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. She composes from solo harpsichord and piano up to string quartets and quintets, saxophone quartet, tuba and euphonium quartet, clarinets quartets and quintets, bassoon quartet, jazz, chamber music, and orchestra. Her choral music encompasses opera (and librettos,) oratorios, and requiems (and texts). Nan has over 125 pieces in the ASCAP library that have been published by PRB Productions, Screaming Mary Music, and Tech-Clazz Publishing Co. In addition to her classical performances, 12 of her releases, representing a quarter of her output, can be listened to on Spotify.
Nan loves a challenge. This year she was commissioned to compose a piece for a Baroque Consort. Her piece was performed twice, both in Palo Alto and Berkeley. This premiere by a Baroque ensemble is a rare occurrence.
Max Lifshitz, the conductor for North-South Consonance, performed an original piece for chamber ensemble. In June of 2026, Nan presents a new piece, dedicated to Max Lifshitz, for the North-South Consonance Orchestra, and two of her compositions, one for solo piano and one for cello, will be performed at Carnegie Weill Hall.