violinist & educator

Violinist and music educator Dr. Helen Liu, is praised for her playing that “exuded Viennese schmaltz, capping the extravagant violin solo with brilliant technique and lightness of touch.” ––Lawrence Budman, Sun-Sentinel  (8/2007)

A native of Potomac, Maryland, Dr. Liu began studying the violin and piano at age six. She won several state and regional competitions in high school, including the Music Teachers National Association Selmer String Competition (MTNA), the Catherine Filene Shouse Scholarship from Wolf Trap, and Maryland State Music Teachers Association Solo Festivals (MSMTA). After high school, she chose to continue her music studies on the violin. Dr. Liu earned her Bachelor’s degree at University of Maryland, College Park, as a Dorothee Einstein Krahn Scholarship student of Daniel Heifetz. She also won First Prize of the Homer Ulrich Solo Competition and performed regularly with the student-formed chamber ensemble, UM Philharmonia. Dr. Liu earned her Master’s degree and Graduate Diploma with a Concentration in Music-in-Education, at New England Conservatory in Boston, where she was a student and teaching assistant of James Buswell. She then continued to received her Doctoral of Musical Arts degree at SUNY Stonybrook under the guidance of Pamela Frank and Philip Setzer of the Emerson String Quartet.

As an avid chamber musician, she has collaborated with NEC faculty members James Buswell, Carol Ou, Carol Rodland, and New York artists Ani Kafavian, Colin Carr, Arthurs Haas, and the Emerson String Quartet, and has performed as the scordatura violin for Ligeti’s Violin Concerto (1992) with the NEC Contemporary Ensemble, which will soon be released on Mode Records. She was also a member of the New York Amadeus String Quartet, and gave spectacular performances of Mozart piano concertos with pianist Chiharu Sai in Carnegie Hall and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall. In 2007, Dr. Liu was the recipient of two pieces composed and dedicated in her honor: “Vertex” by Korean composer Yoon-Ji Lee, and “L’ours Chinois” by Hawaii-born bassist/composer Randy Wong. She has participated in many summer festivals including Aspen Music Festival, Longy International Baroque Institute, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, National Repertory Orchestra, National Orchestral Institute, and the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. She is a valuable member of Project Copernicus, a newly-formed chamber orchestra based in Miami, FL, which received promising reviews in the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post in August 2007. She is currently on the faculty of the Hawaii Youth Symphony’s Pacific Music Institute, and teaches privately in Boston (Bradford School of Music in North Andover, MA) and Long Island, NY. In addition to her classical and baroque performances, she is the violinist for The WAITIKI 7, a Boston-based modern exotica ensemble that has toured Europe and across the US.

Resumes and other bios

• Curriculum Vitae (PDF)
• Music-in-Education

Photo by Cathy Clicks Photography | www.cathyclicks.com

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Thanks for visiting. I am currently located in Honolulu, Hawaii where I teach and perform with various groups and ensembles as a professional freelancer. As a teacher, I am dedicated to developing the artistic lives of each individual by planting the seed of wonder and a love for problem-solving in every mind, and encouraging a positive outlook both in the practice room and in all areas of life.