Sixteen year old Yiran Liu, winner of the Dearborn Symphony Youth Artists Solo Competition, Piano Division held in March 2012, will perform Saint-Saens Piano Concerto No. 2, Mvt. No. 1 with the orchestra on May 18 at Dearborn’s Ford Community & Performing Arts Center. A junior at Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, Yiran began piano lessons at age six and has been studying with Natalie Matovinovic for eight years.
Yiran won first place in the 2008 Michigan Music Teachers Association (MMTA) Piano Solo Competition, and second place and honorable mention in the 2009 and 2012 MMTA Concerto Competition, respectively. She was awarded a $2000 merit scholarship for Interlochen Fine Arts Camp in 2008, and has been selected to play three times in the Schoolcraft College Annual Bach Festival honors recital and six times in the Sonatina/Sonata Festival honors recital. Yiran is also a five-time winner of the Ann Arbor Area Piano Teachers Guild (AAAPTG) Foundation Awards Auditions, and has been on the National Roll of the American College of Musicians National Piano Playing Auditions for seven years.
In addition to these achievements, Yiran has participated in master classes with renowned pianists Olga Kern and Yuja Wang.
Yiran plays piano in the Pioneer High School Symphony Band and clarinet in the Pioneer Concert Band. She is an active member of her school’s student council and serves on the Leadership Team of AATFK, a local volunteering organization. She also enjoys photography and spending time with friends.