Described as “a major talent” by The Classical Source, Ji Liu is known as one of his generation’s most artistically and technically exciting concert pianists and as a prolific and experimental composer.
During 2021 and 2022 Ji Liu played at major concert venues throughout China performing Liszt’s 12 Transcendental Etudes and Bach’s keyboard works as well as his own compositions. He also performed the Chinese premiere of Boris Bergmann’s The Richter Scale (dedicated to Ji Liu) and the Chinese premiere of Philip Glass’s Complete Piano Etudes Books I and II.
As a soloist, Ji Liu has appeared at major UK venues and festivals, including Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Barbican Centre and Wigmore Hall, Birmingham’s Symphony Hall, Bristol’s Colston Hall, Newcastle’s Sage Gateshead, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, etc. International venues and festivals such as Carnegie Hall and 92nd Street Y in New York City, Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Salle Garnier Opéra de Monte-Carlo; Henley Festival, Leeds International Music Festival, Bath International Music Festival, Brighton Music Festival, Petworth Festival and Bristol Proms in the UK, Verbier Festival and Gstaad Festival in Switzerland and the Stavanger Chamber Music Festival in Norway.
He has performed regularly with the Philharmonia Orchestra and has worked closely with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, on its China tour under Vasily Petrenko and at the Royal Albert Hall and its opening season concerts at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. He also performs frequently with orchestras across Europe and China.
In 2016, Ji Liu was soloist in the world premiere of Ludovico Einaudi’s Piano Concerto with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under Damian Iorio. In September 2017, he performed for His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, the Royal Family, and other distinguished guests at Dumfries House as part of Classic FM’s 25th birthday celebrations.
Ji Liu is also a prolific recording artist. Highlights include Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with Royal Academy of Music Symphonic Brass and James Watson and the solo recording Piano Reflections released by Classic FM, which reached number one on the UK charts, Piano Encores, Pure Chopin and Fire and Water.
Ji Liu has composed works for orchestra, choir, chamber ensemble and solo instruments. His compositions draw on diversified genres of improvisation, avant-garde techniques, classical Western forms and minimalism. His Fantasia – Frozen Starry (2021) was co-commissioned by Johnson & Johnson and WABC Foundation to support children with Autism. In 2022 Heresy Records released his composition The Book of Hours, Sonata Fantasy, a work in 21 chapters that is eighteen hours in length, the longest instrumental piece ever recorded.
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 from King’s College London and is a Guest Professor at Shenzhen University. Since 2018 Ji Liu has served as Head of Performance at the Kent International Piano Course.