A guest artist, arriving from Wellington, New Zealand, Jian Liu, gives a concert, in collaboration with Judit Gábos, our Music Department's pianist-professor., In the programme, besides the classical four-hand piano repéortoire: Mozart, Bach-Kurtág choral transcriptions, Schubert's Phantasy in f, the audience may listen to enjoy piano compositions by contemporary New Zealand composers: Douglas Lilburn, Jack Body and John Psathas.

Internationally celebrated concert pianist, chamber musician, and educator, Dr. Jian Liu, has performed and taught throughout Europe, Asia, and North America. His artistry has been taking him to some of the 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, Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestra Wellington, Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, and Yale Philharmonia, among others.

Jian has also been a prize-winner at Horowitz (Ukraine) and Missouri Southern (USA) international competitions and has performed at Auckland (New Zealand), Idyllwild (USA), Beijing (China), Lausanne (Switzerland), and Krakow (Poland) music festivals. He was an adjudicator for several international music competitions, and his performances have been broadcast by various TV and radio stations including KPHO public radio, CCTV (China), Suisse Romande Radio, Krakow Radio, and Radio New Zealand.

As a dedicated and enthusiastic chamber musician, Jian is the founding pianist of Te Kōkī Trio, the resident trio at New Zealand School of Music. The Trio has appeared on various chamber series in Singapore, China, Australia and New Zealand. Jian has also collaborated with some of the 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.

As a passionate performer, Jian is equally committed to education. Jian have served for four years on the faculty of the Yale Department of Music, and he is currently the Programme Director of Classical Performance and Head of Piano Studies at New Zealand School of Music at Victoria University of Wellington. His students are prize winners at international competitions such as the Zhuhai International Mozart Competition for Young Musicians (China) and Indonesia Pusaka piano competition (Indonesia). 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. Jian studied with Professor Jin Zhang from Central Conservatory in Beijing for six years, then with Dr. Caio Pagano at Arizona State University for eight years. He holds 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.

< Back