Jian Liu

Jian Liu was born in Qing Dao, in the People's Republic of China in 1980. He began his piano study at age 6 and entered his first competition at age 8, winning first place in the Ren Bao Piano Competition. He was then accepted at the prestigious Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing at age 12. At age 15 he came to the United States where he competed and won first place in the Missouri Southern International Competition in April 1996. It was here that he met Dr. Pagano, a Regents professor of piano at ASU, persuaded Jian to come to Arizona where a support network for Jian was established so he could remain here and continue his studies. Not only did he excel in the music world but also in academia. He graduated from Desert mountain High School in Scottsdale with straight A's and many scholarship honors. Worth mentioning here is that he only knew a few words of English when he arrived but on his first lunch hour at school he listened very carefully to the boys in front of him in line who ordered Pepperoni Pizza and so he did also and for the first month every noon he lived on Pepperoni Pizza. After High School, he graduated from Arizona State University with three majors and a GPA of 4.0. He has won many competitions on the way to his dream of becoming a concert pianist. One of the most exciting was a three week competition held in Kiev, Ukraine, where 80 pianists from 30 countries were competing in the internationally famous Horowitz Competition. Jian was the third place winner. He was then accepted at Yale in 2004 where he is currently pursuing the Master of Musical Arts (PHD) under the teaching of Claude Frank. He became officially engaged to his childhood sweetheart this summer, and they are planning a 2008 wedding.