We welcome the appointment of Dr Ji Liu as Head of Piano and Keyboard. Ji Liu combines a distinguished and multifaceted career as a pianist, composer, scholar and educator.
As an international soloist, he has performed at venues and festivals including Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall, Auditorium du Louvre, Royal Concertgebouw and the National Centre for Performing Arts in Beijing. At Classic FM‘s 25th anniversary, Ji Liu performed for His Majesty King Charles III and other distinguished guests at Dumfries House.
Ji Liu says: “I am thrilled to join Trinity Laban’s thriving keyboard department and excited to work towards our shared goal and mission in this historical and forward-thinking institution. Accepting this appointment is a great honour for me. Trinity Laban’s existing commitment to mentoring the next generation of musicians and creative leaders aligns with my long-term commitment to music education and my vision of integrating artistic pedagogy with innovative and collaborative research insights. Together with the Director of Music, Dr Aleksander Szram and all my exceptional colleagues, I aspire to foster a learning environment of excellence, progressiveness, innovation, collaboration, equal opportunity and contemporary relevance through teaching and artistic activities. I want to lead our keyboard department as an inspirational and cohesive place for national and global creative talents, developing the sustainable success of the department and the Trinity Laban community for many years to come.”
Director of Music, Dr Aleksander Szram says: “We are delighted that Dr Ji Liu will be joining the international team of trans-disciplinary artists here at Trinity Laban. Ji has a multi-faceted career as a soloist, collaborator and performer-composer and will provide great inspiration to our students as they build their own fulfilling and authentic careers.”
More about Dr Ji Liu
Ji Liu has worked with orchestras including the Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Beijing’s NCPA Orchestra, Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, etc. He gave the world premieres of Ludovico Einaudi’s Piano Concerto Domino with RLPO and Boris Bergmann’s The Richter Scale and China premieres of Philip Glass’s Complete Piano Etudes and Frederic Rzewski’s People United Will Never Be Defeated! Variations.
As a published composer, Ji Liu has written for orchestras, chamber ensembles and solo instruments. His 18-hour Sonata Fantasy was certified as “The Longest Ever Released Instrumental Work” by the Guinness World Record. His discography encompasses repertoires from the Baroque period to the 21st century.
His research has been presented at institutions such as the University of Oxford, the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, the Orpheus Institute and the University of California.
Ji Liu 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 Professor Daniel Leech-Wilkinson) from King’s College London and received the Forrest Creative and Performance Leadership Fellowship. Shanghai FM94.7 appointed him the Inaugural Music Ambassador. Since 2018, Ji Liu has served as the Head of Performance at the Kent International Piano Course and is a visiting professor at Shenzhen University.
To visit Dr Ji Liu’s website, click here.