Local piano virtuoso Matthew Liu has been studying piano for nine years and is a student of Professor Jack Winerock at the University of Kansas. Earlier in 2023, he won the regional round of the MTNA Senior Piano Competition. In 2022, he won first prize in the concerto competitions by the Kansas City Symphony, Topeka Symphony Orchestra and the Kansas City Music Teachers Association Heritage Philharmonic. He won the Best Performance of a Solo Work at the Arthur Fraser International Piano Competition (Columbia, SC), and first prize in both the solo and single concerto movement divisions at the International Keyboard Odyssiad & Festival (Fort Collins, CO). As one of six selected students, he participated in the 2022 Gina Bachauer International Piano Festival and performed at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center in Salt Lake City, UT.

In previous years, he won the best Chopin performance in the MTNA Junior Piano Competition; first prizes at the International Young Artist Piano Competition in Washington, D.C., the Chopin International Competition in Hartford, CT, the Paderewski International Piano Competition and the Conero International Piano Competition; and he was a semi-finalist at the 2021 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition. He has performed as a competition winner at venues such as Merkin Concert Hall in New York City and the Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel, IN.

In 2022, he performed twice with the Kansas City Symphony under the baton of Michael Stern. In 2019, he performed with Midwestern Chamber as a concerto competition winner, and The Kansas City Star commended his performance as “dazzling, …, the music played expressively, … a joy to hear,” and “was phenomenal.”

Matthew will perform Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with collaborative pianist Carmen Ching.