The Indian-born German pianist Sheila Arnold has been active on both modern and historical instruments, and indeed sees those instruments as symbiotic in her musical thinking. She is also a prominent German educator. Arnold was born in Tiruchirappalli, in southern India, on March 18, 1970. Her parents were Indian, and she has continued to make family and musical visits to that country. Arnold's mother was a student at Women's Christian College in Madras (now Chennai), and Arnold's talent on the keyboard was noticed; she had a German teacher in India, and she was sent to Germany at age eight for study. Arnold has continued to make Germany her home. First she studied in Berlin with harpsichordist and organist Ilse Schwartz in Berlin, and then, for eight years, with Heidi Köhler in Springe, near Hannover. At the age of 12 she gave her first public recital, and she moved on for studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover, working with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling. Even as a teen, Arnold made appearances on most of West Germany's regional radio networks, and at 17 she made her debut with the Berlin Philharmonic. After that came appearances at other prestigious halls: the Philharmonie in Cologne, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Leipzig, the Liederhalle in Stuttgart, the Palau de la Música in Valencia, Spain, and the NCPA Concert Hall in Mumbai, among others. Playing fortepiano as well as a modern grand, she has collaborated with the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, the Beethoven Orchester Bonn, and the Prague Chamber Orchestra, and she is also an active chamber player. Arnold recorded a Brahms recital for Avi-Music in 2006 and has continued to record for that label (as CAvi-Music) and for Naxos; an album of music by Debussy, Cage, and Takemitsu, Ecoutez!, appeared on CAvi-Music in 2018. Arnold has taught at her alma mater in Hannover and since 2005 has been on the faculty at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne. A unique feature of her career is that she has, with actress Uta Jacobi, developed the Wolferl Children's Music Theater, designed to introduce preschool and elementary school children to the harpsichord, fortepiano, and organ.