Daniel Liu was born on June 28, 2002 in Columbia, Missouri, USA. He is a 9th grade student at Skyline High School in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. Daniel’s music career started at the age of six, when his sister taught him how to play violin and piano. Under the instructions of Dr. Ning Lu and Dr. Jie Lu, both Professors of Piano at the School of Music at the University of Utah, Daniel has won more than two dozen state, national and international piano competitions, and has performed piano solo at Carnegie Hall, New York; Zipper Concert Hall, Los Angeles; Rose Wagner Black Box Theatre, Salt Lake City, Libby Gardner Concert Hall, Salt Lake City, among others. He has performed piano concertos with the American West Symphony and the University of Utah Summer Arts Orchestra. Daniel was also invited to play at the historical Assembly Hall of Temple Square, Salt Lake City.
Among Daniel’s awards and honors are First Place Solo (2016), Utah International Piano Academy & Competition, Junior Group, Salt Lake City, Utah; First Place Solo (2016), Piano Solo Competition, Junior Division, the University of Utah Summer Arts Piano Festival and Competitions, Salt Lake City, Utah; Semi-Finalist Solo (2016), Los Angeles Young Musician International Piano Competition, Category E (14-15 years of age), Los Angeles, California; Honorable Mention Solo (2015), Junior Division, Helen Taylor Johannesen International Piano Competition, Salt Lake City, Utah; First Place Concerto (2014), American Protégé International Piano Concerto Competition, 12 years old and under category, New York City, New York; First Place Concerto (2014), elementary division, the University of Utah Summer Arts Piano Festival and Competitions, Salt Lake City, Utah; First Place Concerto (2014) at the Utah Music Teachers Association Piano Competition; First Place Concerto (2013) and First Place Keyboard Skills (2011) at the University of Utah Summer Arts Piano Festival and Competitions.
Daniel also enjoys studying music theory, and he earned First Class Honors with Distinction for the advanced rudiments-academic, Carnegie Hall Royal Conservatory’s Achievement Program (2013). As a violinist, Daniel obtained Superior Performance, Level M, Solo Violin from the Utah Federation of Music Clubs Violin Festival (2013). He was a member of his Junior High School Orchestra as a piano accompanist and first-section violinist between 2014 and 2017.
Daniel has actively served the Salt Lake City communities with his musical talents for more than four years. He is an Ambassador for the Mundi Project, a non-project organization dedicated to promoting music education in the Metropolitan Salt Lake City area. He teaches weekly as a Junior Teaching Artist for Salty Cricket Composers Collective’s Grace Notes Program, which gives underprivileged children the opportunity to play in a community orchestra and learn music theory.
Daniel is also a track and field athlete, winning three Salt Lake County 2nd Place awards in 50-meter dash, 200-meter dash, and long jump at the Track and Field Summer League in 2011. He is a proud Junior Jazz basketball player, and has a black belt in Tae-kwon-do from Kim’s Academy of Taekwondo, Utah. Daniel is a member of Skyline High School’s Tennis Team, which won the State Championship in 2017. In his spare time, Daniel likes to learn Chinese calligraphy and history from his parents, Lu and Baodong.
