At the age of 17, Canadian pianist Sophia Liu is rapidly emerging as one of the most compelling artists of her generation. Liu’s “extremely clear, delicate, refined and almost supernaturally fluid” touch (Le Monde) coupled with her “phenomenal virtuosity” (Bachtrack) have captivated and mesmerised audiences worldwide.

Liu’s 25/26 season opens with her NHK Symphony debut in Tokyo and Osaka, where she performs Saint-Saëns’s Piano Concert No. 2 under the baton of Eva Ollikainen. Further highlights in the season include recitals at the Konzerthaus Berlin; Festival Radio France Occitanie Montpellier; Teatro La Fenice, Venice; Opéra National de Lyon; Tiroler Festspiele Erl; La Folle Journée, Nantes and Tokyo; Festival International de Piano de La Roque d’Anthéron; Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi, Torino; Bologna Festival; Chopin Society, Minnesota; Portland Ovations; Musashino Cultural Foundation and Tokyo Yamaha Hall.

As a soloist with orchestra, Liu appears with the Vancouver Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Hawaii Symphony and Sinfonia Varsovia in 25/26, among others. Recent appearances have included performances with the Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice at the La Folle Journée de Nantes and Orchestre National de Cannes at La Roque d’Anthéron.

Previous recital highlight includes performances at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, La Roque d’Anthéron, International Chopin Piano Festival at Duszniki Zdrój, International Chopin and His Europe Festival in Warsaw, Festival La Grange de Meslay, Place des Arts Montreal, National Theater and Concert Hall Taipei and National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts-Weiwuying.

Born in Shanghai, Sophia Liu was raised in Japan until moving to Montreal at age 7 to study with Dang Thai Son. Liu has won various prizes at international piano competitions, including First Prize at the 18th Ettlingen International Piano Competition, First Prize at the Thomas & Evon Cooper International Competition, and various prizes at the first edition of the Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli International Piano Competition. In October 2025, Liu released her first studio album of solo piano, featuring Liszt’s Réminiscences de Norma and Chopin’s Andante spianato et Grande Polonaise.

Paul Meyer is one of the world’s most outstanding clarinettists and performs regularly with leading orchestras in Europe and the USA, the Far East and Australia. He is the dedicatee of over 20 world premieres, including concertos by Penderecki, Berio, Corigliano, Thierry Escaich, Qigang Chen and Michael Jarrell, which Paul Meyer premiered in Salzburg, Amsterdam and Vienna and which have since become part of the standard repertoire.

Alongside his career as a soloist, Paul Meyer has been active internationally as a conductor since 1988. He is the founder of the Orchestre de Chambre d’Alsace, served as John Carewe’s assistant at the Northern Junior Philharmonic in England, and was appointed ‘Associate Chief Conductor’ of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra by Myung Whun Chung in 2007, shaping the orchestra’s international profile primarily through the French repertoire and works by Roussel, Dukas and Saint-Saëns. Paul Meyer is a co-founder of the orchestra’s academy for young emerging artists. From 2009 to 2012, Paul Meyer was Principal Conductor of the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra and has since worked with renowned orchestras such as the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, the Orchestre National de Bordeaux, the Hamburger Sinfoniker, the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Danish Symphony Orchestra and the China Philharmonic Orchestra.

His artistic output to date has been documented on more than 50 CD recordings for leading labels, including DGG, Sony, RCA, EMI and Virgin; for these, he has been awarded numerous prizes, such as the Fono-Forum, Diapason d’Or, Choc du Monde de la Musique, Gramophone and Grammy Awards. Particularly noteworthy are his recordings as a conductor with the Camerata Padova (piano concertos by Mozart and Haydn with JM Luisada), with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Liège (works by Darius Milhaud), the Brussels Philharmonic (works by Corigliano and Carter), with the Staatskapelle Weimar (Elgar and Walton cello concertos), as well as horn concertos from various periods with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra and the highly successful CD ‘Bolero de Meyer’ with the Tokyo Kosei Orchestra. His series of play-conduct recordings with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne has won numerous awards.

Among the chamber orchestras Paul Meyer has conducted to date are the following: the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Stockholm Chamber Orchestra, the Prague Philharmonia, the Prague Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra and the Munich Chamber Orchestra.

In 2012, the French state awarded Paul Meyer the highest cultural honour, the ‘Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres’, in recognition of his musical achievements to date.

Since the 2019–2020 season, Paul Meyer has succeeded Johannes Schlaefli as principal conductor of the Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchester.