Biography
As an internationally celebrated concert pianist, Dr. Jian Liu has performed throughout Europe, Asia, and North America. His artistry has taken him to some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Steinway Hall in New York, Sprague Hall and Woolsey Hall of Yale University, and Paul Hall of Julliard School, and as a featured soloist with orchestras including Symphony Orchestra of National Philharmonic Society of Ukraine, China National Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestra Wellington, Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, and Yale Philharmonia, among others. He has also recorded many CDs, one of which, Debussy Sonatas and Piano Trio, has been nominated as Best Classical Artist in the New Zealand Music Awards.
Dr. Liu has been awarded many prizes in international competitions including the Horowitz International Piano Competition (Ukraine), the Missouri Southern International Competition (USA), and has featured in festivals in many countries including Auckland (New Zealand), Idyllwild (USA), Beijing (China), Lausanne (Switzerland), and Krakow (Poland). He has also been an adjudicator for several international music competitions, and his performances have been broadcast by various TV and radio stations including KPHO public radio (USA), CCTV (China), Suisse Romande Radio (Switzerland), Krakow Radio (Poland), Kan Radio (Israel) and Radio New Zealand.
As a dedicated and enthusiastic chamber musician, Dr. Liu is the founding pianist of Te Kōkī Trio, the resident trio at New Zealand School of Music. The Trio has appeared in various chamber series in Singapore, China, Australia, and New Zealand. Dr. Liu has also collaborated with many world-class musicians, including cellist Jian Wang, clarinetist David Shifrin, flutist Ransom Wilson, Boston Symphony Orchestra cellist Alexandre Lecarme, violinist Sarita Kwok, and pianist Boris Berman, Claude Frank, and Maria João Pires. He is also one of the official pianists in the Michael Hill International Violin Competition.
As a passionate performer, Dr. Liu is equally committed to education and served for four years on the faculty of the Yale Department of Music. He is currently the Programme Director of Classical Performance and Head of Piano Studies at New Zealand School of Music, Victoria University of Wellington, where he has established his reputation as an outstanding pedagogue and overseen the development of the classical performance curriculum. His students have been prize winners at international and national competitions such as the Zhuhai International Mozart Competition for Young Musicians (China), Indonesia Pusaka Piano Competition (Indonesia), and Wallace National Junior Piano Competition (New Zealand). He has also taught master classes and lectures at the Central Conservatory of Music and Tianjin Conservatory of Music (China), Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance (Israel), Rutgers University, Manhattan School of Music, Wellesley College and Arizona State University (USA), Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (Singapore), Krakow Academy of Music (Poland) and Sydney Conservatorium, among others.
Dr. Liu studied with Professor Jin Zhang from Central Conservatory in Beijing and in the US with Dr. Caio Pagano at Arizona State University. He completed his Master of Music, Doctor and Master of Musical Arts degrees from Yale School of Music, where he was a student and assistant of Professor Claude Frank
