Star pianist Bruce Liu explores tension between elegance and risk with Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

Fuelled by curiosity and spontaneity, the acclaimed performer looks beyond the Chopin repertoire that made his name

By John Lucas

Bruce Liu. Photo by Bartek Barczyk

The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra presents Bruce Liu Plays Prokofiev at the Orpheum on May 30 and 31 at 8 pm and June 1 at 2 pm

WHEN PEOPLE THINK of Bruce Liu, they inevitably think of Frédéric Chopin. That’s only natural. After all, Liu rocketed to fame in the classical-music world when, at the age of 24, he placed first in the XVIII International Chopin Piano Competition in 2021.

The Paris-born, Montreal-raised pianist had been garnering plenty of acclaim before that, but his prize-winning performance of Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra, under Andrey Boreyko, thrust him onto the global stage. A subsequent world tour and an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon cemented Liu’s status as a fast-rising star.

When Stir connects with Liu via Zoom in Texas, he’s getting set to play the first of three concerts with the Houston Symphony Orchestra. On the program? Piano Concerto No. 1.

Liu says he doesn’t mind being associated with the Polish composer, but points out that his musical interests have also led him elsewhere—including back to the country of his birth.

“Chopin will always be my cornerstone in my artistic history, because his music shaped how I think and communicate as a pianist, but I’m also very curious about other things,” he says. “I’m always drawn to French repertoire. My first album, right after the Chopin competition, was dedicated to Ravel, Debussy, Rameau, and other less-known French composers like Alkan and Satie. In a sense, the colours and textures are so different, but it always has a connection with Chopin, like with his improvisation side.”

Liu explains that he has a keen interest in contrasts, and specifically in exploring “the tension between elegance and risk, and control and spontaneity”.

When he uses the words improvisation and spontaneity, Liu isn’t talking about deviating from the score. He’s referring, rather, to the ways that real life seeps into his performance and affects how he approaches the music whenever he sits down at the keyboard. He may be playing the same notes in the same order each time, but the way he interprets a given piece is constantly in flux.

“I don’t improvise at all on the piano,” he says. “Spontaneity is more about what’s already written, and how you feel; your emotions onstage. A question I get asked a lot is ‘How do you feel playing the concerto by Chopin 50 times a year?’ This is the way I try to keep myself fresh, in a way, because for me every performance is kind of improvisation—you know, you go to a different place, you meet different people. Not in a sense of inventing the notes, but one night a phrase might breathe differently because of the hall or the audience’s energy or something personal I feel in the moment.”

It’s worth noting that Liu’s upcoming performances with the VSO will give him a break from playing the Chopin piece that elevated him to what the Globe and Mail called his “rock star status”. Instead, local audiences will get to hear his interpretation of Sergei Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3.

One of the 20th-century Russian composer’s more popular pieces, the concerto has been recorded more than 120 times by celebrated pianists including Van Cliburn, Alexander Toradze, and Lang Lang. The very first recording, though, was made in 1932 by Prokofiev himself, along with the London Symphony Orchestra. 

"It just proves that there’s so much going on behind the papers, behind the notes.”

Bruce Liu. Photo by Christoph Kōstlin

Liu acknowledges that hearing a composer’s interpretation of his own music satisfies a certain academic curiosity—and is something we’ll never experience with Chopin or Pyotr Tchaikovsky—but that doesn’t mean he’s planning to base his own version on Prokofiev’s performance.

“It’s an interesting topic,” he says. “Is it better to have a version of the composer playing? Or is it better to leave it to the imagination, like with the earlier composers because we don’t have access? Because I think, in the end, not all composers are great at playing their own instruments, you know? It’s interesting to see how Prokofiev performed his concerto. I don’t want to be rude, but if you compare it to any great pianist’s interpretations, there’s no comparison.”

Liu argues that even composers who do happen to be prodigiously gifted instrumentalists—Sergei Rachmaninoff being a prime example—are not necessarily the best interpreters of their own work. 

“Rachmaninoff was probably one of the greatest pianists, as a composer,” he says. “And it’s interesting to see how much contradiction he’s doing about what he wrote on the score, when he plays a concerto himself. So it just proves that there’s so much going on behind the papers, behind the notes.”

On May 29, the day before the first of his VSO shows, Liu will host a masterclass, coaching advanced young pianists in front of an audience. Liu himself is still learning a few things himself, as it turns out; he says he’s only given a couple of masterclasses before, but he relishes the opportunity to connect with budding young musicians.

“I try to remind myself that it’s not about showing how much I know,” he says. “It’s about creating space where music can grow. I prepare by studying the pieces a little bit, to have a little structure and a basic idea. But I try to clear my mind so I can listen openly to the pianist. Every student brings their own personality, and I guess my job is to help them hear more, think more, and feel more—not just to play better.” 

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