Guitarist Alan Liu ('22) Featured On WHYY's "On Stage at Curtis"
The 2022 Curtis graduate performs pieces from Rodrigo, Johanson, Mangoré and Coste.
Season 17 of WHYY’s acclaimed On Stage at Curtis series continues with a portrait of Alan Liu (Guitar ’22). Fourth prize winner of the prestigious 2021 Guitar Foundation of America International Concert Artist Competition, Mr. Liu was one of the youngest guitar winners and Grand Award prize winners at the Canadian Nationals (FMCF). Since winning his first national prize in 2009, he has collected additional awards in North America, Europe, and Asia, including the recent 1st prizes in the XVIII Mercatali Gorizia International Guitar Competition (2021), Houston International Guitar Competition (2021) and the Philadelphia Classical Guitar Competition (2021).
In 2016, at 14, Mr. Liu was honored among 30 classical musicians as one of CBC’s “Hot Canadian Classical Musicians under 30.” The recent Curtis graduate from Vancouver, Canada, remembers being inspired by French guitarists like Gabriel Bianco, watching and studying their performances for hours on YouTube. Although his parents were not musicians, they supported his endeavors, and he fondly recalls the moment they took him to see a flamenco guitarist concert at age five. Inspired by the performance, he kept nagging his parents to play the guitar, and eventually, they bought him one of his own.
Mr. Liu describes how comfortable and natural it felt when he picked up the instrument. However, he recognizes that it is a love/hate relationship at times, one that swings back in favor of the guitar once he spends time outside of it, perusing scores and listening to other genres. He always finds himself drawn back to it, saying, “I’ve been surrounded by it my entire life, so I can’t see how I can live without music. It’s just a part of who I am and what I do.” While he enjoys solo music, he is interested in the challenge of collaborating with others musicians in the future and performing more chamber works as his career continues to unfold.
Featured performances include Joaquin Rodrigo’s “Tiento Antiguo,” Bryan Johanson’s “Open Up Your Ears,” Agustín Barrios Mangoré’s “Un sueño en la floresta,” and Napoléon Coste’s Fantaisie Dramatique ‘Le Départ,” Op. 31.
Click HERE to watch the On Stage at Curtis episode, or click the video below.
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