Performer Biography

Cher Liu

Born in Houston to a musical family, Cher Liu started her piano studies at age three with her mother, and violin studies at age six. Under the guidance of Fredell Lack, she decided to pursue music as a career at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she received a double B.M. in violin and piano performance, and a M.M. in violin performance. Her teachers and mentors have included violinists Ilya Kaler, Ivan Zenaty, Joan Kwuon, Fredell Lack, and Yongchun Li, and pianists Daniel Shapiro, Yigong Shen, Andrew Parr, Nancy Chin, and Rong Cindy Tan. She has also played for artists Paul Kantor, Michael Frischenschlager, Jinjoo Cho, Dami Kim, Kevork Mardirossian, Kikuei Ikeda and Joela Jones.

An avid chamber musician, Cher has participated in masterclasses with members of the Emerson String Quartet, Danish String Quartet, and Ehnes Quartet. Former chamber music mentors include Si-Yan Li, Annie Fullard, Mari Sato and Eric Wong of the Cavani String Quartet and Peter Salaff of the Cleveland Quartet. In 2019, she was invited to play for the Cleveland branch of Music for Food with her quartet. She also participated as a fellow at Musikiwest Chamber Music Festival and Centrum Chamber Music Festival.

Recent awards include second prize at the MTNA Young Artist Strings Contest (2021), the JCCAA Scholarship (2017), first prize at the TMTA Instrumental Competition (2016), and the Dorothy Kelley Competition Scholarship (2015). She made her orchestral debut with the Fort Bend Symphony Orchestra playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 in 2011 and with the Houston Civic Symphony playing Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in 2014.