Lishan Xue

Music journalists Philip Dewolf and Pascal Goffoux (RTBF, Culture/Music) say that she “[e]xcel[s] marvelously in the art of arranging the complexity of the sound, . . . absorbing, captivating and inventive.” Lishan Xue has performed this captivating art in prestigious venues around the world. These include the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City; Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC; Benaroya Hall in Seattle; Flecher Hall in Chautauqua, NY; Webster Hall and Taylor Grand Theater in Joplin, Missouri; Simon Bolivar Hall in Venezuela; Shanghai Concert Hall; Beijing Concert Hall; Gross Saal in Prayner Musik and Drama Konservatorium in Vienna; and Konzert Saal in Haydn Konservatoriurm in Austria. She has also been invited to perform in the Gilmore Keyboard Festival and Master Classes, the Shanghai Spring Music Festival, the Chautauqua International Music Festival, the Beijing International Music Festival and Academy, the Shanghai Conservatory Music Academy and Festival. Xue was twice invited to give solo performances of Bartok’s Piano Concerto No.2 with Sinfónica Juvenil and its conductor Teresa Carreño, in Venezuela in the 2012-2013 Season. She has been interviewed by China Xinhua News Network Corporation and José Antonio Abreu has applauded her as “a great pianist.” As Justin Kolb said about her, “[A] pianist is born on the stage.”
Xue has won numerous prizes from regional, national and international competitions. Most notable are the Los Angeles Liszt International Piano Competition, the New York Artists International Competition, the Missouri Southern International Piano Competition, the Chautauqua International Piano Competition, the American Prize: Lorin Hollander Award in Piano, the Krannert Debut Artist Competition, the Matinee Musicale Competition, the Baldwin Piano Performance Competition, the USA National Young Artists Competition, and the Gulangyu Junior and Senior China National Piano Competition.
Xue has received invitations and scholarships for music festivals and master classes held in China, Europe, and the United States, where she worked under the instruction of famed teachers Fou Ts'ong, Russel Sherman, Arie Vardi, Jerome Lowenthal, Nalita True, Solmon Mikowsky, HongKuan Chen, Robert McDonald, Jerome Rose, David Lively, Anton Kuerti, Tigran A. Alikjanov, and Guillermo Gonzales. As an active chamber and collaborative musician, Xue has worked with many other internationally renowned performers including Atar Arad, Dale Clevenger, Peter Stumpf, Mimi Zweig, Kevork Mardirossian, Daniel Perantoni, Thomas Robertello, and Robert Walters. Xue has frequently been invited to work with other musicians as a collative pianist with groups such as the Indiana String Academy and the International Tuba and Euphonium Association. A life-long music educator, Xue has worked with students age five to sixty-five since 2003 in Shanghai, China. While studying at the Oberlin Conservatory and Indiana University, she taught secondary piano lessons to nonmusic major college students and local children. She is currently the instructor of the Piano Laboratory Program in the School of Music at the University of Illinois.
Born in Shanghai, China, Xue gave her solo debut at the age of six at the Shanghai Concert Hall. When she was thirteen, she recorded Carl Czerny’s Left Hand Study Op.718, which was published by Nanjing Audio & Video Music Publishing House. In 2008, she was
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interviewed by the piano journal Little Pianist in Jiangzu, China. Recently, Qingdao Evening News and the Qingdao TV Station also specially interviewed her when she was invited to give recitals, lectures, and master classes in Qingdao, China in 2015-2017. In 2018, she was appointed as a judge for the piano festival of National Federation Music Club in Sioux City, Iowa, along with masterclasses and recitals. She is also the youngest guest artist and judge ever to participate in the first Xinjiang Piano Festival in China. She has served as the Artistic Director of the Wenxuanqinyun Arts Academy and the Vice President of the UIUC collegiate chapter, Music National Teachers Association. Her first book, Jazz Improvisation for Everyone will be published by Shanghai Music Publishing House in March of 2019.
Xue was awarded a Bachelor Degree in Arts (2007) and a Master’s Degree in Arts (2011) at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music where she studied with Professors Minduo Li and Cheung-yu Mo. She pursued additional studies in Austria with Ralf Heiber and Sumi Cho. In 2013, Xue was awarded an Artist Diploma at the Oberlin Conservatory where she studied with Monique Duphil on the Dean’s Talents scholarships. Additionally, she studied fortepiano and clavichord with David Breitman. While pursuing her studies at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, she worked with Arnaldo Cohen and Menahem Pressler. Artistic Excellence Awards, the Joseph Battista Piano Fellowship, and other merit scholarships were also given to her there, and she was awarded her second Artist Diploma in 2015. In 2016, Xue started pursuing her Doctor of Music Arts with William Heiles in Piano Performance and Literature at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, as the recipient of the Charles Ross Fellowship and the Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship. She is also skilled at the harpsichord and organ, studying with Charlotte Mattax and Dana Robinson. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking by mixing several different styles of cuisine, and exploring other forms of art such as painting and film.