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2025 Conference Artist – Solungga Liu
Solungga Liu has earned acclaim as a pianist of remarkable breadth, celebrated for her advocacy of early 20th-century American music, underrepresented works in the classical repertoire, and her dedication to performing and promoting contemporary compositions. Her artistry has been described as nuanced, expressive, and deeply insightful.
Liu’s 2017 debut at the Library of Congress showcased her strengths, featuring works by Charles Griffes, Amy Beach, and César Franck. The Washington Classical Review praised her “rhythmic precision, expression, and finely calibrated sense of balance between all of the moving parts.” This recital included a world premiere of Griffes’s 1915 piano transcription of Debussy’s Les parfums de la nuit from Iberia, rediscovered by the Library of Congress. The Washington Classical Review lauded her performance, stating that Liu brought an “orchestral spectrum of colors” to the transcription.
Her recordings have received widespread acclaim. The Pleasure-Dome of Kubla Khan: Piano Works of Charles Tomlinson Griffes (Centaur Records) was praised by the American Record Guide for its “excellent sound, sensitivity, and beguiling color.” Her newest album, The Passionate Amy Beach: Piano Quintet and Selected Works for Solo Piano (Centaur, 2023), was lauded by Piano Magazine as “full of depth, color, and nuance,” and Fanfare Magazine described it as “a genuine and beautiful performance.”
A passionate advocate for new music, Liu has premiered and recorded numerous contemporary works. Highlights of her collaborations include performing Lutosławski’s Piano Concerto with OSSIA, Steve Reich’s The Desert Music and Tehillim with Alarm Will Sound, Aaron Travers’s Concierto de Milonga with the Indiana University New Music Ensemble, and Gregory Mertl’s Piano Concerto, commissioned for her by the Barlow Endowment. The 2017 Bridge Records release of Mertl’s concerto garnered significant critical acclaim.
Liu’s career spans five continents, performing as a soloist and chamber musician with orchestras such as the National Theater Symphony Orchestra of Brazil, the Taipei Metropolitan Orchestra, the Toledo Symphony Orchestra/Choral Society, and the National Institute of Health’s Philharmonia in Washington, D.C. She has appeared at iconic venues like Carnegie Hall, The National Concert Hall in Taiwan, and the Goethe Center in Bangkok. In Brazil, she presented a series of solo recitals at the Brazilian National Museum of Sculpture (MUBE) and the Cultural Center of Brasília (CCBB), performing for both public audiences and members of Brazil’s Cabinet and Supreme Labor Court.
In addition to her international performance career, Liu is a dedicated educator at Bowling Green State University and a sought-after Artist-Teacher at international festivals and competitions. These include the 2024 Sicily International Piano Festival and Competition, the 2023 Lied Center for Performing Arts Summer Piano Academy, the Eastman School of Music Summer Piano Festival, the Atlantic Music Festival, the Thailand International Mozart Competition, and the Piano Plus International Piano Festival in Greece.
Liu holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in piano performance from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Alan Feinberg, Douglas Humpherys, and Elizabeth DiFelice.