Meet Academy Alumna Kate Liu
May 12th, 2016
Kate Liu, piano | Academy graduating class of 2012
Where are they now? In celebration of the Academy's 10th year, MIC took time to catch up with alumni of the program.
Pianist Kate Liu was a member of the inaugural class of the Academy where she studied with late Emilio del Rosario, then with Micah Yui and Alan Chow. She currently studies with Robert McDonald at the Curtis Institute of Music where she pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree. Kate has won numberous top prizes at international piano competitions including the New York International Piano Competition, the Thomas & Evon Cooper International Competition, the Eastman Young Artist International Piano Competition, the Montreal International Musical Competition, the Third Asia-Pacific International Chicago Competition. Most recently she was awarded the bronze medal in prestigious 17th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition. In addition, she won a special prize sponsored by the Polish Radio for best performance of Chopin Mazurkas.
She has performed with the Warsaw Philharmonic, Daegu (South Korea), Evanston, Montreal, Rochester, Hilton Head, Cleveland, and Skokie Valley orchestras. In addition, she performed Schubert’s Fantasy in F minor four-handed with Lang Lang at the Chicago Symphony Center.
As a result of the Chopin Piano Competition win, she will embark upon an international concert tour later in 2016 which includes concerts in Japan, Korea, Poland, Singapore, and Shanghai.
How do you think the Academy prepared you for conservatory?
My time at Academy helped me open my eyes to theory, harmony, analyzing music, and participating in chamber. It was my first experience with chamber music, and that definitely improved my listening as a musician.