Jian Liu

Bach - Busoni, Mozart, Beethoven, and Farquhar

Chinese-American pianist Jian Liu who has been dazzling audiences with his piano skills since he was 12 years old will be the solo star at the Matariki Mulled Wine Concert in the Paekakariki Memorial Hall on Sunday June 29 at 2.30pm.

Jian Liu was accepted at the prestigious Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and moved to the United States when he was 15, promptly winning first place at the 6th Missouri Southern International Competition in 1996. Now a highly sought-after solo pianist, chamber musician, and educator, he is Lecturer in Piano at Te Kōkī, New Zealand School of Music and has appeared on concert stages in China, Japan, Singapore, Portugal, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United States and New Zealand.

As a chamber musician, Liu has featured alongside world-class musicians such as cellist Jian Wang, clarinetist David Shifrin, flutist Ransom Wilson, Boston Symphony Orchestra cellist Alexandre Lecarme, and Yale Department of Music violinist Sarita Kwok.

In 2011, he performed four concerts with violinist Martin Riseley and flutist Alexa Still in Palmerston North, New Plymouth, Nelson, and Invercargill. In December 2012, Mr. Liu and cellist Inbal Megiddo performed at three universities in China, including the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.

Mr Liu is not new to Paekakariki, or the Mulled Wine Concerts, previously appearing in March 2013 with the NZSO Associate Concertmaster and violinist, Donald Armstrong. At this month's Matariki concert he will play a programme of Bach-Busoni "Chaconne"; Beethoven F Major Variations; Farquhar "Black and White" and "Colours"; as well as some Mozart ( Fantasie in d minor- well known to most amateur pianists) and Debussy's Images Book 1.

He describes the Bach-Busoni "Chaconne", as a piece "that is so grand and beautiful, it can touch a person's soul directly."

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Jian Liu

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