Charlie Liu’s Blog

I decide to organize the bio as FAQ-style, just pick the Qs you care about and Read the As!  If you like a traditional version in English and 中文, here’s Charlie’s Bio （查理的简历）.

• When did Charlie start learning piano?
• Who are his teachers?
• Which competitions did Charlie win?
• Charlie’s memorable performances and venues?
• What else does Charlie do?
• How long does he practice every day?
• Does Charlie have email, youtube, twitter, facebook, myspace?

When did Charlie start learning piano?

As he turned 4 in 2004.

Who are his teachers?

We moved a lot - his current teacher is Professor Ingrid Clarfield.  His first piano teacher was Tatyana Berketova. Irina Kirilenko and Soo Kyung Cho have also taught him. Check the acknowledgment page for more details!

Which competitions did Charlie win?

Charlie’s been a winner in all 16 piano solo competitions he took part in so far.  Some notable local or international ones include his winning 3rd prize in his first competition (he was the youngest participant at age 5); 1st place in Steinway Society Scholarship Competition; 1st place Massachusetts (MMTA) and 2nd place New Jersey (NJMTA); Gold Prize American Fine Arts Festival; 2nd Prize Bradshaw & Buono; Winner of his age group for Cecillian Music Club and AADGT competitions. In addition, he was also the youngest winner of the 1st Lang Lang International Music Foundation Scholarship. Charlie also became the youngest semi-finalist (by 5 years!) in 2009 Westfield Symphony Orchestra “Stars of Tomorrow” Concerto Competition! Charlie also won 2nd place in Greater Princeton Chess Championship in 2008 and over the years his hockey teams won a couple hockey tournaments too!

Charlie’s memorable performances and venues?

The biggest honor Charlie’s had was to perform for Queen Rania of Jordan, Bono, Hugh Jackman, Rupert and Wendi Murdoch, Sandy and Joan Weill on some precursor occasions for something Charlie would soon focus on doing (check back on our blog for updates!!); The most special place Charlie performed on was The Oprah Winfrey Show (he also performed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show); The best performance experience for Charlie was sharing a performance on the same piano with Lang Lang!; As for venues, Charlie’s performed in recitals held in church, library, recital hall, school auditorium, even outdoors! But the most prestigious place Charlie had performed (twice!) was the Isaac Stern Auditorium (once during the historical Youtube Symphony Orestra debut event!) of the Carnegie Hall; Charlie’s first solo recital was in a private elementary school and he enjoyed it tremendously because he got to play with a parachute w/ other kids afterward! Lastly, there’s also something very special about Charlie performing in the Carnegie Hall - he must be the first kid ever to have performed in ALL 3 halls of this crown jewel of the American performance venues within one year’s span, and at only 8!

What else does Charlie do?

He’s playing on Princeton Squirts hockey team (before that Princeton Mites and Chelmsford Inhouse). He was part of a hockey team and a swim team when he was 6. He’s an excellent skier and chess player, and a snowboarding beginner. He once got to purple belt or dark blue belt (I forgot which’s higher) in Tae Kwon Do! He also tried and played many other sports. As for other entertainments - he has a GBA, a DS, a Wii, Wii Fit, XBox360, iPod Touch and a laptop, so (unfortunately) there’s no lack of video games for him.  He’s also spent a lot of time watching SpongeBob, Penguins of Madagasca, to a lesser extent Fairly odd parents (and to my amazement, iCarly too just because it was right after Spongebob and Penguins!). Frankly we’ve spent the last year trying to cut down video games and TV with little success.

How long does he practice every day?

Ah, the #1 question we got asked. It fluctuates anywhere from 0-3 hrs. The average is probably now between 1-1.5 hrs. As to why he’s not practicing more - please read the section above. We do think that he needs to practice more - easier said than done.

Does Charlie have email, Youtube, twitter, facebook, myspace?

You can always use this contact form to contact him. He has Youtube and Twitter accounts and it’s rather easy to remember: http://youtube.com/youngpianist, http://twitter.com/youngpianist. Welcome to subscribe!! BTW we recently changed 30 of his 70+ piano videos to “Private” due to various reasons. But most of his best ones from age 5-8 were still public. He doesn’t have facebook or myspace accounts yet.

Charlie’s Bio

9-year-old Charlie Liu began studying piano at age 4. At age 5, he won 3rd Prize in his first piano competition despite being the youngest participant. At age 6, he held his first solo recital and performed on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. So far, Charlie has been a winner in every one of the 16 solo competitions he took part in, including 1st Place Steinway Society Scholarship Competition, 1st place Massachusetts Music Teacher Association, 2nd place New Jersey Music Teacher Association, Gold Prize of American Fine Arts Festival, 2nd Prize of Bradshaw & Buono International Competition, Winner of AADGT and Cecilian Music Club competitions, among others. He was also by far the youngest semi-finalist for any instrument in the 2009 Westfield Symphony Orchestra “Stars of Tomorrow” Concerto Competition.

In October 2008, Charlie became the youngest Lang Lang International Music Foundation Scholarship winner and performed on Lang Lang’s piano concert. In April 2009, Charlie performed at the prestigious Isaac Stern Auditorium of the Carnegie Hall during the Youtube Symphony Orchestra debut, which capped an amazing one-year-span where Charlie performed in all 3 halls of the Carnegie Hall at merely age 8.

In May 2009, Charlie performed on the season finale of “Oprah’s Search For World’s Smartest and Most Talented Kids” on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Over the years, Charlie has given highly successful performances and solo recitals and counts Queen Rania of Jordan, Bono of U2, Hugh Jackman, Rupert and Wendi Murdoch, Sanford and Joan Weill among his audiences.

Charlie’s development is well-balanced. He was a swimming team member and plays travel hockey on the Princeton Tigers Hockey team. He is an excellent skier and has studied Tae Kwon Do, soccer, basketball, baseball, tennis and picking up snowboarding. He also won 2nd place in 2008 Greater Princeton Chess Championship. He enjoys cartoons and video games much.

Charlie is a student of Ingrid Clarfield, Professor of Piano at Westminster Choir College of Rider University and has been instructed by Tatyana Berketova of Brookline, MA, Irina Kirilenko of Northfield, NH and Soo Kyung Cho of Princeton Junction, NJ.

九岁的查理刘（中文名刘明明）四岁开始学钢琴，五岁第一次参加钢琴比赛即成为最小的获奖者。六岁第一次举办个人演奏会，并应邀在美国第二大日间脱口秀上表演。七岁他第一次在卡内基音乐厅表演。不到一年时间，查理便创纪录地应邀在卡内基音乐厅的所有三个厅，包括几乎没有八岁孩子表演过的容纳2800人的主厅里表演过。同年他还应邀在美国第一大日间脱口秀上表演。

从学琴至今，查理在每一个他参加的区域和国际钢琴独奏的比赛中都获了奖，其中包括马萨诸塞州第一名，新泽西州第二名，美国艺术节金奖，施坦威协会比赛第一名，Bradshaw & Buono 国际比赛二等奖，AADGT国际比赛奖，美国历史第二悠久的西西里音乐俱乐部奖，等等十五个钢琴比赛的奖。查理曾被时代周刊儿童版及区域性报纸采访过，在各大音乐厅表演过，还曾与郎朗在同一个钢琴上演奏过一曲。他的音乐征服了包括约旦王后Rania，U2乐队主唱Bono，著名演员Hugh Jackman，默多克夫妇，Sandy Weill夫妇等众多听众。

更为难得的是，查理是一个全面发展的孩子。他秋季到春季，每周要跟他的冰球队打五次冰球，去年还参加了全国性的冰球邀请赛。他还曾获得大普林斯顿区的国际象棋第二名。他经常参加游泳队，跆拳道，棒球，足球，篮球，网球等体育项目，还是滑雪高手。他平时除了上学，钢琴，体育之外，最喜欢的就是海绵宝宝和他花样繁多的游戏机了。

查理现在的老师，Ingrid Clarfield，在著名的Westminster大学任钢琴教授。出版过许多钢琴教学书籍。Tatyana Berketova, Irina Kirilenko, Soo Kyung Cho 也曾分别教授过查理。