Jian Liu, Solo Pianist

Jian Liu, Internationally celebrated pianist, and winner of the Best Classical Artist at the 2025 Aotearoa Music Awards, has created a programme that surveys the different ways composers of New Zealand and Chinese heritage paint their worlds in sound.     The journey begins with landscapes featuring Douglas Lilburn’s _From the Port Hills _and Huang Hu Wei’s evocative Pictures from Bashu, while Tan Dun’s Eight Memories in Watercolour and Salina Fisher’s Three Short Pieces capture nature’s fleeting beauty in shimmering sound.     Gareth Farr’s Love Songs and Zhang Zhao’s Three Songs from the Mountains of Southern Yunnan give voice to love and longing.    The second half turns to childhood and memory.     Gillian Whitehead’s Lullaby for Matthew and He Luting’s Lullaby offer tender moments of repose, while Anthony Ritchie’s Caroline Bay Suite and Ding Shande’s Children’s Suite Dance with the laughter of children at play before Sonatinas by David Farquhar and Wang Lisan bring the programme to a spirited close, brimming with energy and joy.   

Programme 

Douglas Lilburn | From the Port Hills   Huang Hu Wei 黄虎威 | Pictures from Bashu (selections) 巴蜀之画 (选曲)   Tan Dun 谭盾 | Eight Memories in Watercolour (selections) 八幅水彩画的回忆 (选曲)   Salina Fisher | Three Short Pieces   Gareth Farr | Love Songs   Zhang Zhao 张朝 | Three Songs from the Mountains of Southern Yunnan 滇南山谣三首    

• Interval -    Gillian Whitehead | Lullaby for Matthew   He Lu Ting 贺绿汀 | Lullaby 摇篮曲   Anthony Ritchie | Caroline Bay Suite   Ding Shan De 丁善德 | Children’s Suite: Happy Holidays (selections) 儿童组曲《快乐的节日》(选曲)   David Farquhar | Sonatina   Wang Li San 汪立三 | Sonatina 小奏鸣曲 8’   

Artist 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 worldwide.    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, Shanghai (China), Lausanne (Switzerland), and Krakow (Poland). He has also been an adjudicator for several international music competitions.     As a dedicated and enthusiastic chamber musician, Dr. Liu collaborates frequently with New Zealand Symphony Orchestra musicians, appearing in music festivals around New Zealand as well as with international musicians and ensembles, including the Takács Quartet, violinist Anthony Marwood, cellist Jian Wang, clarinetist David Shifrin, flutist Ransom Wilson, horn player Ben Goldscheider, and pianist Boris Berman, Claude Frank, and Maria João Pires.     Dr. Liu studied with Professor Jin Zhang in China and with Dr. Caio Pagano in the US. 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, and is currently the Deputy Head of School, Associate Professor, 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 performance curriculum.