Jian Liu, Internationally celebrated pianist, and winner of the Best Classical Artist at the 2025 Aotearoa Music Awards, has created a programme that surveys the different ways composers of New Zealand and Chinese heritage paint their worlds in sound.    

The journey begins with landscapes featuring Douglas Lilburn's From the Port Hills and Huang Hu Wei’s evocative Pictures from Bashu, while Tan Dun’s Eight Memories in Watercolour and Salina Fisher’s Three Short Pieces capture nature’s fleeting beauty in shimmering sound.

Gareth Farr’s Love Songs and Zhang Zhao’s Three Songs from the Mountains of Southern Yunnan give voice to love and longing.    The second half turns to childhood and memory.    

Gillian Whitehead’s Lullaby for Matthew and He Luting’s Lullaby offer tender moments of repose, while Anthony Ritchie’s Caroline Bay Suite and Ding Shande’s Children’s Suite Dance with the laughter of children at play before Sonatinas by David Farquhar and Wang Lisan bring the programme to a spirited close, brimming with energy and joy. 

Jian Liu's technical finesse, mercurial fingers and cryst passages marked him as someone to watch. - Hanno Fairburn, Rotorua Daily Post.

Programme 

Douglas Lilburn | From the Port Hills  

Huang Hu Wei 黄虎威 | Pictures from Bashu (selections) 巴蜀之画 (选曲)  

Tan Dun 谭盾 | Eight Memories in Watercolour (selections) 八幅水彩画的回忆 (选曲)  

Salina Fisher | Three Short Pieces  

Gareth Farr | Love Songs  

Zhang Zhao 张朝 | Three Songs from the Mountains of Southern Yunnan 滇南山谣三首    

Interval   

Gillian Whitehead | Lullaby for Matthew  

He Lu Ting 贺绿汀 | Lullaby 摇篮曲  

Anthony Ritchie | Caroline Bay Suite  

Ding Shan De 丁善德 | Children’s Suite: Happy Holidays (selections) 儿童组曲《快乐的节日》(选曲)  

David Farquhar | Sonatina   Wang Li San 汪立三 | Sonatina 小奏鸣曲 8’