Celia Liu (劉玉) is an internationally acclaimed pipa artist. She graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and was formerly a performer with the China National Traditional Orchestra. She received the Excellent Performer Award at the First Art Cup International Chinese Instrumental Music Competition.
She has performed with world-renowned orchestras, including appearing as a pipa and guzheng soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall in the world premiere of the Avatar Live in Concert production. She has also performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Pacific Symphony, the Orchestre de l’Opéra National de Paris, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Malaysia, among many others. Her performances are distinguished by their fluency, delicacy, and expressive vitality, earning widespread acclaim. She was the first pipa player to perform at the Hollywood Bowl and the first to perform the U.S. national anthem on the pipa before an NBA game.
Ms. Liu has participated in recording music for hundreds of Hollywood films and television productions, including Nickelodeon’s Kung Fu Panda, Disney’s Mulan, Our Floating Dreams, and Universal Pictures’ Pavilion of Women. She recently recorded music for Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 for Netflix at the renowned Village Studios in Los Angeles. She also recorded the theme music for Paramount Pictures’ The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender, performing on both the pipa and guzheng. Composer Jeremy Zuckerman praised her performance as “his most brilliant.”
Ms. Liu is a faculty member in the World Music Department at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music. She has been invited to present and promote Chinese music at Caltech, the University of Southern California (USC), California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA), Southern Utah University, Pomona College, and the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, where she has received high praise from both students and faculty.