First Prize
Vincent Liu
USA
Teacher: Professor Hans Boepple
Score: 94.00
Vincent Liu, 17, a junior at Dougherty Valley High School in San Ramon, California, studies piano with Professor Hans Boepple, and previously with Dr. Jed Galant. Vincent has won first prizes in the state CAPMT concerto competition, Honors Competition, and Contemporary Music Competition, the Ross McKee Piano Competition, the San Jose International Piano Competition, the Celia Mendez Young Pianist’s Beethoven Competition, the Marylin Mindell Piano Competition in both Junior and senior divisions, the US Open Music Competition in both the showcase solo and the complete concerto categories, the Menuhin-Dowling Competition, four times (2008, 2010, 2013, 2015) 1st place in every category of the East Bay Music Festival Solo Competition, and the Sylvia M. Ghiglieri Piano Competition. In 2012 at the age 13, he was the MTAC concerto competition state winner with the Prokofiev Concerto No. 3. This year, he was the 2016 National Young Arts winner.
Vincent has also won top prizes and awards at Arthur Fraser International Piano Competition, Los Angeles Liszt International Piano Competition, California MTNA Senior Piano Competition, Two times (2014, 2016) Henry and Carol Zeiter Piano Competition, Pacific Musical Society Competition. He was the 1st and 2nd alternate winner numerous times at the Northern California CAPMT and MTAC piano solo and concerto competitions.
As a winner of the concerto competitions, Vincent has performed the Prokofiev Concerto No. 2 with multiple symphony orchestras including the Livermore-Amador Symphony, the Peninsula Symphony, and the Palo Alto Philharmonic. In 2010 at age 11, he won the El Camino Youth Symphony concerto competition and performed Beethoven Concerto No. 1 with its orchestra. He was three times honorable mention winner of the CYS complete concerto competition with the Grieg concerto in 2012, the Prokofiev concerto No. 3 in 2013, and the Liszt Concerto No. 1 in 2014.
Vincent has participated in the Colburn School Young Artists Summer Academy in 2012, the Southeastern Piano Festival with a full scholarship in 2015, the Lee University International Festival and Competition in 2016, and John Perry Summer Academy in 2016. He was a scholarship recipient of Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Pianist Program in the summer of 2016. Vincent has played in the Junior Bach Festival, the Steinway Society of the Bay Area Concerts, the San Jose International Piano Competition benefit concerts, and Peninsula Symphony Family Concerts. He has also played in the masterclass of Yoheved Kaplinsky and Pianist Mari Kodama, in the MTAC state convention Panel Honors’ recital in 2015. Again, in 2016, he ranked No. 1 to play in the masterclass at the MTAC State Convention. Vincent is the vice-president of the Music Students’ Service League, an outreach program that gives benefit concerts in retirement communities.
Vincent also plays chamber music. Last year his chamber group won the 1st prize in the MTAC Contra Costa Branch VOCE and in the Diablo Valley College/Holy Names University Young Artist String Competition.
Besides music, Vincent’s interests include soccer, math, and physics. He has played competitive soccer for over 10 years, and has been chosen to play for his high school varsity team in the past three consecutive years. A state Olympic Development Program (ODP) player, he was invited to travel to Arizona with the state travel team to play in the Region IV Championships two times. Last summer he was invited to attend the ODP Regional IV soccer camp. He excels in school, and scored in the top 1% in the nation in the American Mathmatics Contest AMC 10 and 12 and qualified for American Invitational Mathematics Examination AIME in the past three consecutive years.
SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THE JURY
excellent playing. Bravo!
Your Prokofiev is very impressive. Great cadenza!! Congratulations for a great performance of this monster first movement! Fantastic technique and musicality. Bach prelude and fugue in D is very well done - great spirit in the prelude and very sensitive fugue - you were listening very intensely.
Very stiff playing but with incredible potential.
Congratulations!
Really musical, congratulations!
some nice and sensitive playing
Bravo! Marvelous artistic interpretation, and masterful technical command. I especially enjoyed the spirit you brought to the Bach Prelude, and the intensity of the dramatic build-up in the cadenza of the Prokofiev. Wow! I hope to hear you play many more times in the future.
Prelude and Fugue in D Major, BWV 874, J.S.Bach (5'40"")
La Campanella, S141/3, Liszt (4'20"")
Prokofiev Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op 16, 1st mvt (10'40"")
