Piano Recital Filharmonia Narodowa

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Piano Recital
Kate Liu, photo: Janice Carissa

Since winning third prize at the 17th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 2015, Kate Liu has enjoyed unwavering popularity with Polish audiences. The pianist, known for her intimate, sublime sound, is a frequent guest at concert halls in the capital.

Fryderyk Chopin's Three Mazurkas, Op. 59, composed in 1845, represent the composer's pinnacle achievement in this genre – they are works full of tension, drama and melancholy, whose expression is enhanced by contrasts in tempo, mood and harmony. Kate Liu's interpretations of these inconspicuous pieces have often delighted audiences, earning her the award for best interpretation of mazurkas at the 2015 Competition. The Sonata in B flat minor, Op. 35, from 1839, is a testament to the Polish composer's maturity in his approach to cyclical forms. Its third movement, the famous Funeral March has played a special role in the collective consciousness.

Alexander Scriabin's Sonata No. 2 in G sharp minor, Op. 19, from 1898, is the expression of the composer's fascination with the sea observed at night from the coast – initially calm and peaceful, and in the finale – violent and turbulent.

The American pianist's performance will be crowned by César Franck's Prélude, choral et fugue, a piece from 1884, which gained fame thanks to Luchino Visconti's film Vaghe stelle dell'Orsa (Sandra).

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Kate Liu

The artist gained worldwide recognition when she won third prize and the prize for the best performance of mazurkas at the 17th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 2015, during which she also won a poll conducted among listeners of Polish Radio Programme 2. She is also the winner of the first prize at the New York International Piano Competition (2010) and the Asia–Pacific International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Daegu (2015).

Born in Singapore, Kate Liu began learning to play the piano at the age of four. Two years later, as an exceptionally gifted musician, she was accepted into the Yamaha Music School in Singapore. At the age of eight, she moved with her family to the United States, where she studied piano under Alan Chow, Micah Yui and Emilio del Rosario at the Music Institute of Chicago. She completed her bachelor's degree at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and her master's degree at The Juilliard School in New York, where she studied under Robert McDonald and Yoheved Kaplinsky.

As a soloist, she has performed in many important concert halls, including the Seoul Arts Centre, Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, Severance Hall in Cleveland, Maison Symphonique de Montréal, Kennedy Centre and Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., Shanghai Concert Hall, Symphony Hall in Osaka, Warsaw Philharmonic and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice venue, as well as at festivals in Duszniki-Zdrój, among others. She performed with pianist Lang Lang at the Symphony Centre in Chicago, playing Franz Schubert's Fantasy in F minor.

She has collaborated with orchestras such as the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Daegu Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Cleveland Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, as well as with Polish philharmonic orchestras in Warsaw, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin.

In 2016, her first album with the music of Fryderyk Chopin, recorded during the pianist's competition performances, was released by NIFC (Fryderyk Chopin Institute).

 

[2026]

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