UCSB Arts & Lectures presents Bruce Liu, 7 p.m. Thursday, May 16 at Hahn Hall, Music Academy.

Following his win at the Chopin International Piano Competition in 2021, Liu experienced a “star-is-born” moment at London’s Royal Festival Hall in March 2022.

Summoned at the last moment to join the Philharmonia Orchestra for an all-Tchaikovsky program, Liu called for the notoriously difficult “Concerto No. 2” as a substitute for the more commonly played “Concerto No. 1.” After an astounding performance and glowing reviews, Liu found himself shifted to an even higher level of demand.

Liu’s program will include Haydn: “Piano Sonata in B Minor, Hob. XVI:32;”
Chopin: “Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, op. 35;” Kapustin: “Variations, op. 41;” Rameau: Selections from “Pièces de Clavecin;” and Prokofiev: “Piano Sonata No. 7 in B flat major, op. 83.”

Tickets are $40/$10 UCSB students (current student ID required). For tickets or more information, call UCSB Arts & Lectures, 805-893-3535 or buy online at www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu.

Liu was the first-prize winner of the 18th Chopin Piano Competition 2021 in Warsaw.
Highlights of Liu’s 2023/24 season include international tours with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and Paavo Järvi, the Philharmonia Orchestra and Santtu-Matias Rouvali and the Warsaw Philharmonic and Andrey Boreyko, as well as the Münchener Kammerorchester in a play-direct programme.

Liu has performed globally with major orchestras including the Wiener Symphoniker, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, and NHK Symphony Orchestra.