Bruce Liu’s Year with Tchaikovsky

Words by Nolan Kehler
Photography by Sonja Meuller
Illustration by Dane Thibeault
Interview by Michael Zarathus-Cook

Bruce Liu

One can empathise with, if not understand, the whirlwind of sudden stardom that has grabbed Bruce Liu’s life. “I’ve gone from being a student to not having much time at home for a whole year, being constantly on tour,” he admits. Perhaps no pianist in the world has had the career acceleration and ascension Bruce Liu has had in the last three years. The Montreal-raised artist sprang to fame in 2021 with his win at the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, and has since garnered over 70 million streams with his debut record Waves (an exploration of French masters from Rameau to Ravel to Alkan) and Young Talent of the Year honours from Opus Klassik. One could also likely empathise with the need to take a break.

As it turns out, Liu’s break involved a trip to the Siemens-Villa on the southwestern outskirts of Berlin, far from the halls that an artist of his stature would normally perform in. Here, he settled into a retreat of sorts, a veritable cabin in the woods to explore Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky’s The Seasons.

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