WHO I AM
Pianist Andy Liao earned Bachelor of Music (Piano) and Bachelor of Science (Actuarial Science) degrees from the University of Iowa, having studied with Daniel Shapiro, Sergey Schepkin, and Uriel Tsachor as well as participated in masterclasses with Joseph Kalichstein and Menaheim Pressler.
After college, he spent almost two decades in the Boston area, where he continued his musical education with Randy Hodgkinson, YaFei Chuang, and other members of the New England Conservatory faculty. He has won numerous awards. Most notably, he was the second prize winner of the 2017 Boston International Piano competition, third prize winner of the 2017 Washington International Piano Arts Council Piano Competition, 2019 laureate of the Bruno/Bradshaw Piano Competition, and third prize winner of the 2020 PianoBridges International Competition.
His performances have taken him to various venues worldwide, including Boston, New York, Cape Cod (MA), Washington DC, San Diego, and Warsaw. In 2019, he performed at Carnegie Hall (Weill), where his performance of Ginastera's 1st Piano Sonata was critically acclaimed for a "wide dynamic and emotional range and plenty of technique" as well as compared to that of Tchaikovsky prizewinner Terence Judd.
Andy is currently working as an actuary in Austin and has begun to study privately with Anton Nel.
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Rural College, Boston, MA
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Piano has always been my passion. I started playing when I was seven years old. In my pre-college days, I placed well in competitions and was given the opportunity to play with an orchestra when I was 16. My piano skills also helped pay for my college education as I was awarded a full-tuition scholarship in piano from the University of Iowa. There, while double majoring in piano and actuarial science, I gave numerous recitals and concerts, culminating in my Senior Recital in 2000.
After college, I moved to Boston where I became engrossed in my work. I didn't touch the piano very often for about three years, but I really missed playing. Going to concerts was a lot of fun, but nothing beats the thrill of being up on stage and performing live. After the hiatus, I returned to playing again. At first, I started slow, signing up for some chamber music groups. Upon completion of my actuarial designation, I also began to take private piano lessons. It was thrilling to be playing chamber music and solo piano again.
In 2013, I found out about piano competitions for adults who don't make music their primary means of living. So I started to enter these and have been fortunate to have some success in them. While the awards are nice, my main reasons for doing these are: 1) play new pieces on a nice stage with a nice piano and more importantly, 2) meet other like-minded people who also do other work for a living and play piano seriously.