Photo : © Frances Marshall
Born in Shanghai in 2008, Canadian pianist Sophia Shuya Liu moved to Japan when she was two years old, and five years later settled in Canada. She is now living in Montreal where she benefits from the teaching of the pianist Dang Thai Son, who won the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, 1980.
The four-year-old child prodigy sits at the piano and one year later participates in her first competition. Then numerous awards follow, including the First Prizes at the Kobe Art Centre Piano Competition (Japan), and at the International contest of Hangzhou in China, at the 18th ‘Ettlingen International Piano Competition’ (Germany), at the Chopin International Contest of Hartford (U.S.A.) as well as that of Philadelphia. In 2023 she won the ‘young soloist ‘ prize at the Thomas & Evon Cooper International competition (U.S.A.), which earned her the opportunity to perform with the Cleveland Orchestra and David Robertson, then the 2nd prize of the 1st edition of the International Contest Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli in Brescia, Italy, with several special prizes including the Audience Prize. Sophia Liu has ever since appeared at prestigious venues in North and South America, Asia and Europe (Hanoi Opera House, Taipei National Concert Hall, Kobe), both in recitals and with orchestras (Bazzini Consort Orchestra in Brescia, Orchestre Symphonique de l’Isle in Montreal, Tolima Music Festival Orchestra, etc.).
After having won over the audiences of the International Chopin Piano Festival in Duszniki-Zdrój, of the Piano Festival in Boston, of the Festival International de Piano de La Roque d’Anthéron, she was invited to replace Ingrid Fliter at short notice in a recital held at the legendary National Philharmonic in Warsaw, where she also played with the Sinfonia Varsovia (Variations by Chopin and Mozart). In January 2025 she made her recital debut at Fondation Vuitton In Paris, and appeared during the same season at ‘Piano à Lyon’, then in Geneva, at La Folle Journée de Nantes (a concert livestreamed on ARTE, with the ‘Orchestre de Nice’ and Lionel Bringuier), and in Italy (at Fazioli Concert Hall of Sacile), also in Montreal, Quebec City, Vancouver, Taiwan, before capturing the atmosphere of Summer festivals such as ‘Piano at Saint-Ursanne’, ‘Chopin at Nohant’, ‘Chopin at Bagatelle’, the International ‘Chopin and his Europe’ Festival in Warsaw, la Roque d’Anthéron with the National Orchestra of Cannes, la Grange de Meslay, etc.). Besides, she will play Mozart with the Orchestre de Toulouse (conducted by Elias Grandy) before her first appearance in Japan (Tokyo and Osaka) in October 2025 in the 2nd Concerto by Saint-Saëns with the NHK Symphony Orchestra.
Sophia Liu is represented by Intermusica internationally and by Jérôme Chabannes (Piano à Lyon) in France.
