Masterclass

Kent International Pianoforte Courses is proud to welcome back Ji Liu to give our masterclass in 2023.

Described as "a major talent" by The Classical Source, Dr Ji Liu combines a distinguished and multi-faceted career as a pianist, composer, researcher, and educator.

His professional activities consist of constant and prolific movement between

artistic research, composition and international concerts

from Royal Albert Hall in London to Carnegie Hall in New York

and from Auditorium du Louvre in Paris to the National Centre for Performing Arts in Beijing.

Dr Ji Liu ( (BMus, MMus, DipRAM, ARAM, PhD) studied Piano Performance with Professor Christopher Elton and Composition with Professor Ruth Byrchmore at the Royal Academy of Music. He holds a PhD in Music (supervised by Prof. Daniel Leech-Wilkinson) from King’s College London. Dr Ji Liu is the Head of Piano and Keyboard Department at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London.

A balanced blend of creativity, originality and intellectual rigour represent Ji Liu's artistic personality. His extensive repertoire ranges from the Baroque Period to the 21st century, with particular emphasis on the works from Johann Sebastian Bach to Franz Schubert, modern composers such as Frederic Rzewski, Philip Glass, Morton Feldman and György Ligeti, as well as new works by himself and contemporary fellows. The interplay between canonical and modern repertoire is a characteristic element of his performances, reflecting his ongoing research into programming strategies and performance practice in musicking, cultural and social contexts. One of many case studies of such innitatives was his debut at the Bristol Proms, where he juxtaposed John Cage's 04'33" with Bach's Goldberg Variations in a performance directed by Tom Morris, demonstrating the progressive approach to traditional concert paradigms while fostering ingenious new paths to engage with new audiences and thought-provoking performances.

As an active international performing artist, previous seasons have seen Ji Liu's extensive concert tours in China's major venues. These performances included a formidable repertoire of Liszt's 12 Transcendental Etudes, Beethoven/Liszt Symphony No.5 and Ji Liu's original composition The Hero Suite. Notably, Ji Liu also paired his original work, Chinese Opera Metamorphosis, with Johann Sebastian Bach's keyboard works and Philip Glass's Metamorphosis. A major highlight was the Schubert Project, a multi-concert series curated in collaboration with the Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre. This ambitious project covered major piano works written during the last 18 months of Schubert's life and contemporary works inspired by Schubert.

An advocate of contemporary music, Ji Liu has been at the forefront of bringing new works to global audiences. He gave the world premieres of Ludovico Einaudi's Piano Concerto Domino with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in Liverpool and Boris Bergmann's hour-long piano cycle The Richter Scale in London. He has also given the China premieres of numerous works, including Philip Glass's Complete Piano Etudes Book I and II in Shenzhen, and Frederic Rzewski's "People United Will Never Be Defeated! Variations" in Shanghai.