Next week, on 28 and 29 August, Cankarjev Dom will host two concerts by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano, as part of the 72nd Ljubljana Festival. Both concerts will begin at 8.00 pm. On the second evening, the famous orchestra will be joined onstage by the Kaunas State Choir and pianist Bruce Liu, the winner of the most recent edition of the International Chopin Piano Competition.

Thursday’s concert will consist of three parts: Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture, Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Holst’s The Planets. The Roman Carnival Overture is an early work by Hector Berlioz featuring a famous and prominent cor anglais solo. For many people, Frédéric Chopin represents the absolute pinnacle of piano music. His Piano Concerto No. 1 is a work full of emotional rapture. Gustav Holst, by contrast, was a composer well outside the mainstream of European music, yet his orchestral suite The Planets is still enormously popular today. 

Soloist Bruce Liu, who will perform Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1, achieved worldwide renown in 2021 when he won the XVIII International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, becoming the first Canadian ever to win this prestigious competition (and incidentally beating the talented Slovene-Italian pianist Alexander Gadjiev into second place). Bruce Liu’s playing has been described as “breathtaking”, and the Canadian pianist, whose teachers have included Richard Raymond and Dang Thai Son, has established himself a reputation as one of the most exciting talents of his generation.

The 27-year-old has barely paused for breath since his victory at the Chopin Competition and maintains a hectic touring schedule. He records exclusively for Deutsche Grammophon, which released a live album of his competition recordings from Warsaw in 2021 (included by Gramophone magazine in that year’s list of Best Classical Albums) and has recently released his eagerly awaited debut studio album Waves.

“What we all have in common is our difference”, the young pianist likes to say. Born in Paris to Chinese parents, Bruce Liu grew up in Montreal. His life has been steeped in cultural diversity, which has shaped his differences in attitude, personality and character. He draws on various sources of inspiration for his art: European refinement, the long tradition of Chinese culture, North American dynamism and openness. He follows his artistic path with optimism and a smile. As ResMusica puts it: “You don’t always know where Bruce Liu is taking you, but you feel compelled to follow him.”