The Young Artists Series presents Kate Liu, award-winning pianist | Press Releases

3 p.m., Sunday, January 27, 2013
Lawrence A. Wien Experimental Theatre
Quick Center for the Arts
Free Admission

Image: Kate Liu Award-winning pianist Kate Liu performs at 3 p.m., on Sunday, January 27, 2013, in Fairfield University's Lawrence A. Wien Experimental Theatre, located in the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts . The concert is part of the Quick Center's Young Artists Series and is presented in association with The Stecher and Horowitz Foundation . Admission is free and open to the public.

Kate Liu was born in Singapore in 1994 and began playing the piano when she was four years old. She moved to the United States with her family when she was eight years of age. She won the Illinois Junior Music Teachers National Association Competition in 2007 and 2008 and both the Junior and Senior Divisions of the Chicago Steinway Competition in 2006 and 2007 respectively, and performed on the Young Steinway Concert Series in 2007. In 2008, Ms. Liu won Second Prize in the International Institute for Young Musicians Competition, and received honors in the regionals of the Junior MTNA Competition.

In 2010, at the age of 16, she won First Prize at the Fifth New York International Piano Competition, a biennial event presented under the auspices of The Stecher and Horowitz Foundation . She was also the Prize Winner for Best Performance of the Required Contemporary Work by Avner Dorman. Ms. Liu was a scholarship recipient and student of the Music Institute of Chicago's Academy program for gifted pre-college musicians, where she studied privately with artist faculty member Alan Chow and Emilio Del Rosario

She was also featured on WTTW Chicago's "Tonight" show. Following an audition held by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Kate was chosen to perform with the internationally renowned pianist Lang Lang and also to participate in his master class. She played Schubert's Fantasy in F minor, one-piano, four hands with Lang Lang in two concerts at the Symphony Center in Chicago in November, 2008. That year, she also performed a live recital on WFMT radio's Introductions Program.

In March of 2009, she traveled with the Music Institute of Chicago to the east coast where she performed at Weill Hall, at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. In October of 2009, she won the Junior Division of the Louisiana International Piano Competition. In July, 2010 she performed Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Cleveland Orchestra as a finalist of the Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition, receiving Third Prize.

Kate Liu has performed with the Skokie Symphony Orchestra in Illinois, and in New York at Temple Emanu-El, the Ossining Public Library, The Park Avenue Christian Church and the Bohemian Club. Ms. Liu is the recipient of a scholarship from the Chopin Foundation of the United States and has also been featured on NPR's "From the Top." During the 2011 season, Kate Liu's recital at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. "confirmed a burgeoning talent and a musical poise well beyond her years. She is already a pianist worth leaving home to hear" according to The Washington Post .

Kate Liu entered Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia in the fall of 2012 to begin her undergraduate studies with Robert McDonald.

The Stecher and Horowitz Foundation, through its flagship program, The New York International Piano Competition, is committed to furthering the education, recognition and fostering of a new generation of talented young musicians, directly serving pianists ages 16-21. The Foundation helps aspirants achieve their personal and professional goals through mentoring, career guidance, artistic development, and performance opportunities throughout the year.

For Quick Center Box Office information, call (203) 254-4010, or toll-free 1-877-ARTS-396 (1-877-278-7396). Visit online at www.quickcenter.com .

The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts is located on the campus of Fairfield University at 1073 North Benson Road in Fairfield, Connecticut. Entrance to the Quick Center is through the Barlow Road gate at 200 Barlow Road. Free, secure parking is available. Access for people with disabilities is available throughout the Quick Center for audience members and performers. Hearing amplification devices are available upon request at the Box Office. Fairfield University is located off exit 22 of Interstate-95. For further information and directions, call (203) 254-4010 or 1-877-278-7396, or visit www.quickcenter.com .