Bruce Liu (; born Xiaoyu Liu on May 8, 1997) is a Canadian pianist. Born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and raised in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, he began to play the piano at eight years old and was performing by age 11. In 2021, he rose to widespread renown after winning the

XVIII International Chopin Piano Competition The XVIII International Chopin Piano Competition () was held from 2 to 23 October 2021 in Warsaw. Originally scheduled for 2020, the quinquennial competition was twice postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 87 pianists from 18 countries took p ...

Early life and education

Liu was born in

to Chinese parents from

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. When he was six, he moved to

with his father. He initially started piano studies on an electric keyboard but progressed to an

upright piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an action mechanism where hammers strike strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a chromatic scale in equal temper ...

once he became more serious. He graduated from the Montreal Conservatory of Music in the piano class of Richard Raymond. He has since been studying with

Đặng Thái Sơn Đặng Thái Sơn (born July 2, 1958, in Hanoi, Vietnam) is a Vietnamese and Canadian classical pianist. In 1980, he won the X International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, becoming the first pianist from Asia to do so. He has received partic ...

at the

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (; UdeM; ) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce on M ...

Career

2012–2021: Early career

At age 15, Liu performed with the

Cleveland Orchestra The Cleveland Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio. Founded in 1918 by the pianist and impresario Adella Prentiss Hughes, the orchestra is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the " Big Five". T ...

and

Jahja Ling Jahja Ling () is a conductor, music director and pianist. From 2004 to 2017, he was the music director and conductor at the San Diego Symphony. Following his retirement in 2017, he plans to do guest conducting, as well as teaching and volunt ...

Severance Hall Severance Hall, also known as Severance Music Center, is a concert hall in the University Circle neighborhood of Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio, home to the Cleveland Orchestra. Opened in 1931 to give the orchestra a permanent home, the building is n ...

. In the following years, he collaborated with many leading ensembles, such as the

Israel Philharmonic Orchestra The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (abbreviation IPO; Hebrew: התזמורת הפילהרמונית הישראלית, ''ha-Tizmoret ha-Filharmonit ha-Yisra'elit'') is a major Israeli symphony orchestra based in Tel Aviv. Its principal concert ...

Montreal Symphony Orchestra The Montreal Symphony Orchestra () is a Canadian symphony orchestra based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The orchestra’s home is the Montreal Symphony House at Place des Arts. History Several orchestras were precursor ensembles to the curren ...

, and the Orchestra of the Americas. He also toured North America with the NCPA Orchestra, and China twice, with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine and with the Lviv National Philharmonic. In 2012, Liu won the Grand Prize at the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal Standard Life Competition. Recipient of the 2015

Prix d'Europe The Prix d'Europe () is a Canadian study grant that is funded by the Ministère des Affaires culturelles du Québec of the Government of Quebec. Established in 1911, the award has been distributed annually to a single individual through competition ...

, he was awarded major prizes at the Thomas & Evon Cooper International Competition in 2012 and the

Sendai International Music Competition The Sendai International Music Competition is a triennial violin and piano music competition held in Sendai, Japan, presented in association with the Sendai International Music Competition Organizing Committee, Sendai, City of Sendai and the Sen ...

in 2016. He was also a finalist of the

Montreal International Music Competition The Concours musical international de Montréal (CMIM) is an elite-level competition for classical musicians who are interested in pursuing an international career as a professional concert artist. Established in 2001 by the late André Bourbeau a ...

and the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

. In 2019, he participated in the XVI

International Tchaikovsky Competition The International Tchaikovsky Competition is a classical music competition held every four years in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Russia, for pianists, violinists, and cellists between 16 and 32 years of age and singers between 19 and 32 years of ...

2021–present: Breakthrough and debut album

In 2021, Liu won the

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

. He scored the highest marks in the first three stages and was the only competitor the jury unanimously selected to progress from each round. He was also the clear audience favourite and received a prolonged standing ovation for his final round performance of Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 with the

Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra The Warsaw Philharmonic (full Polish name: ''Orkiestra Filharmonii Narodowej w Warszawie'', "National Philharmonic Orchestra in Warsaw"), as it is legally set up, is a Polish orchestra based in Warsaw. Founded in 1901, its home is the Warsaw ...

under

Andrey Boreyko Andrey Boreyko (, ; born 22 July 1957) is a Polish people, Polish-Russian conductor. Biography Boreyko has Polish ancestry on his father's side and Russian ancestry on his mother's side. Boreyko was born in Saint Petersburg. At the Rimsky-Korsa ...

. Shortly thereafter, Liu embarked on a world tour, including performances with the

NHK Symphony Orchestra The is a Japanese broadcast orchestra based in Tokyo. The orchestra gives concerts in several venues, including the NHK Hall, Suntory Hall, and the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall. History The orchestra was founded as the ''New Symphony Orchestr ...

, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra,

Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra The Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra ( (NOSPR)) is one of Poland's radio orchestras and premier musical institutions. It was founded in 1935 in Warsaw and was later re-established in Katowice in 1945. Since 2006 it has been a "National ...

Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg The Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra (, ), abbreviated to OPL, is a symphony orchestra based in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. The orchestra formerly performed at the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, Grand Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg and the ...

, NFM Wrocław Philharmonic, and the

Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira The Brazilian Symphony Orchestra () is a Brazilian orchestra. Founded in 1940, it is located at Avenida Rio Branco, downtown Rio de Janeiro. It is one of the country's foremost orchestras, performing more than 5,000 concerts since its inauguratio ...

. In recital, he appeared at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in

Wiener Konzerthaus The Konzerthaus is a concert hall located in Vienna, Austria, which opened in 1913. It is situated in the third district just at the edge of the first district in Vienna. Since it was founded it has always tried to emphasise both traditional and ...

, BOZAR in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

Philharmonie Luxembourg The Philharmonie Luxembourg, also known officially as the Grande-Duchesse Joséphine-Charlotte Concert Hall (, ), is a concert hall located in the European district in the Luxembourg City quarter of Kirchberg, Luxembourg, Kirchberg. Opened in 2005 ...

, Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, Sala São Paulo, and The Orpheum in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. Replacing

Nobuyuki Tsujii (also known as Nobu Tsujii) is a Japanese pianist and composer. He was born Blindness, blind due to microphthalmia. Tsujii performs extensively, with a large number of conductors and orchestras, and has received critical acclaim for his unique t ...

, he made his

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

debut performing Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 2 with the

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI Classics, EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Rich ...

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London, England. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a G ...

. He also returned to the

National Philharmonic in Warsaw The National Philharmonic in Warsaw ( Polish: ''Filharmonia Narodowa w Warszawie'') is a Polish cultural institution, located at 5 Jasna Street in Warsaw. The building was built between 1900 and 1901, under the direction of Karol Kozłowski, ...

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period who wrote primarily for Piano solo, solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown ...

's birthdate for two sold-out recitals, which he dedicated to the victims of the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. On World Piano Day in 2022, Liu signed an exclusive contract with

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

. Months earlier, the label released a live album of his performances at the International Chopin Piano Competition. The album was critically acclaimed and received praise from publications such as

BBC Music Magazine ''BBC Music Magazine'' is a British monthly magazine that focuses primarily on classical music. The first issue appeared in September 1992. BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the BBC, was the original owner and publisher together with ...

and

Gramophone A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding physic ...

. The latter included it on its list of the best classical albums of 2021 and called it "one of the most distinguished Chopin recitals of recent years, full of maturity, character and purpose."

Personal life

Liu speaks fluent French, English, and

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

Discography

Awards

* 2012: Thomas & Evon Cooper International Competition – Second Prize * 2012: Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal Standard Life Competition – Grand Prize * 2015:

– Winner * 2016:

– Fourth Prize and Audience Prize * 2021:

International Chopin Piano Competition The International Chopin Piano Competition (), often called the Chopin Competition, is a piano competition in Warsaw, Poland, held first in 1927 and every five years since 1955. The competition is one of the founding members of the World Federa ...

– First Prize

References

External links

Official website

Bruce Liu – Deutsche GrammophonBruce Liu – KD Schmid
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Bruce (Xiaoyu) 1997 births Living people International Chopin Piano Competition winners 21st-century Canadian classical pianists Music & Arts artists Canadian musicians of Chinese descent Canadian male pianists