Junwen Liang

Biography

A native of Nanning/China, Junwen Liang began his piano studies at the age of 9 and made his solo debut at the age of 13. He entered the pre-college program at Guangxi Arts University under the tutelage of Sha Liu and Yu Zhao; then moved to the United States in 2013 as a full scholarship student to pursue a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance at Ithaca College School of Music under the tutelage of Charis Dimaras. Junwen also studied privately with Malcolm Bilson and Wenqing Bouche-Pillon during his first-year undergraduate studies. In March 2017, his performance of Prokofiev Piano Concerto No.3 with Ithaca College Symphony Orchestra was well-received in public and broadcast on WSKG radio in New York State.

In most recent years, Junwen has been featured as a soloist to perform in venues such as the Cohen Family Studio Theater, Robert J, Werner Recital Hall (Cincinnati), Indian Wells Theater (Palm Dessert), Everson Museum Auditorium (Syracuse), DiMenna Center for Classical Music, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall (New York); and Academy of Music at Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts (Philadelphia). He also gave solo recitals in cities from China and Canada.

Additionally, Junwen has been invited to participate in well-renowned music festivals such as Lunigiana International Music Festival, Baltimore International Piano Festival, Art of the Piano at CCM, Atlantic Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Orford Musique, and Philadelphia Young Pianists' Academy. He worked with famous pedagogues and concert pianists including Piotr Paleczny, Stanislav Ioudenitch, Gary Graffman, Jerome Lowenthal, Ching-Yun Hu, André Laplante, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Vladimir Feltsman, Robert McDonald, Ursula Oppens, Jeremy Denk, and more.

At the age of 12, Junwen began winning top honors in China; such as Gu Lang Yu National Piano Competition and KAWAI Asia Piano Competition. He continues this path along with his studies in the United States, where he subsequently won prizes from New York International Piano Competition, The American Prize, Naftzger Young Artist Competition, Chopin International Piano Competition in Hartford, and Juliusz Zarębski International Music Competition (Poland); he also gathered first prizes of Crescendo International Music Competition, Nouvelles Etoiles International Music Competition (France), Iscart International Music Competition (Switzerland) and the Princeton Festival International Piano Competition. In Spring 2019, Junwen received an honor of the Spencer Merit Award at the National Society of Arts & Letters in Bloomington, which the award was given only to one pianist.

In Spring 2019, Junwen received his Master of Music Degree in Piano Performance at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he served as Associate Instructor in Piano and studied with Edward Auer and Roberto Plano. He is currently pursuing a Doctoral of Musical Arts Degree at Penn State with Graduate Teaching Assistantship granted; studying with Dr. Christopher Guzman.