Addi Liu, violin and viola
Addi Liu is a passionate performer on the baroque violin and modern viola in the San Francisco Bay Area. A native of Hong Kong, he began studying the violin at nine before turning his focus to the viola at sixteen. While studying at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, he had the privilege of playing in master classes and coachings for many visiting guest artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Menahem Pressler, Robert Mann, Donald and Vivian Weilerstein, Bonnie Hampton, Norman Fischer, Hank Dutt, and others. He spent several summers at the Aspen Music Festival and School and the Montecito Music Festival under a Westmont Viola Fellowship studying with Masao Kawasaki and Helen Callus, respectively. He received his early orchestral training with the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra in which he served as Principal Viola and has toured Central Europe in venues including the Berliner and München Philharmonie.
Addi’s interest in early music and historically informed performance practice began with his love of the Suites for Unaccompanied Violoncello by J. S. Bach and a curiosity in string instrument playing prior to the invention of the chinrest. He is a founding member of MUSA, a Bay Area-based baroque ensemble in which he play baroque violin and viola. He attended the American Bach Soloists Academy and is grateful for coachings and master classes with early music artists such as Rachel Podger, Robert Mealy, Tanya Tomkins, Jeffrey Thomas, and members of the New Esterházy Quartet. He has performed with the San Francisco Bach Choir Baroque Orchestra and the American Bach Soloists.
Addi is a SAA certified Suzuki teacher and teaches privately. He graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music with a B.M. and M.M. in Viola Performance where his principal mentors were Jodi Levitz and Elizabeth Blumenstock.
Addi’s interest in early music and historically informed performance practice began with his love of the Suites for Unaccompanied Violoncello by J. S. Bach and a curiosity in string instrument playing prior to the invention of the chinrest. He is a founding member of MUSA, a Bay Area-based baroque ensemble in which he play baroque violin and viola. He attended the American Bach Soloists Academy and is grateful for coachings and master classes with early music artists such as Rachel Podger, Robert Mealy, Tanya Tomkins, Jeffrey Thomas, and members of the New Esterházy Quartet. He has performed with the San Francisco Bach Choir Baroque Orchestra and the American Bach Soloists.
Addi is a SAA certified Suzuki teacher and teaches privately. He graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music with a B.M. and M.M. in Viola Performance where his principal mentors were Jodi Levitz and Elizabeth Blumenstock.
10 Questions for Addi
Q: What sound or noise do you love?
A: The sound of the viola C string.
Q: What is your favorite word?
A: Gezelligheid, it's a Dutch word that conveys coziness, warmth, being with friends, etc.
Q: What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
A: Monk.
Q: Who is your most influential mentor?
A: I have two important mentors: Jodi Levitz, my long time viola teacher, and Elizabeth Blumenstock, who gave me the courage to pursue baroque violin.
Q: If you can meet J.S. Bach, what would you ask him?
A: Would you had played the cello suites yourself on a cello da spalla?
Q: What is the most surprising thing you didn't expect before getting into early music?
A: It seems people who play early music tend to be cat people...
Q: Which historical era would you like to live in?
A: The present. Things like bloodletting and surgery without anesthesia are pretty horrifying (but fascinating to read about).
Q: What is your most prized possession in your instrument case?
A: Probably my baroque violin with a fake label that says Johannes Hellmer, Prague, 1770. I like to imagine who made it, who played on it in the centuries since, and how it made its way to America.
Q: Who is one of your favorite, in your opinion, under-rated composers?
A: Thomas Adès. He might actually be overrated for some, but I love his colors and the ridiculous notation. Darkness Visible and his Violin Concerto are incredible music.
A: The sound of the viola C string.
Q: What is your favorite word?
A: Gezelligheid, it's a Dutch word that conveys coziness, warmth, being with friends, etc.
Q: What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
A: Monk.
Q: Who is your most influential mentor?
A: I have two important mentors: Jodi Levitz, my long time viola teacher, and Elizabeth Blumenstock, who gave me the courage to pursue baroque violin.
Q: If you can meet J.S. Bach, what would you ask him?
A: Would you had played the cello suites yourself on a cello da spalla?
Q: What is the most surprising thing you didn't expect before getting into early music?
A: It seems people who play early music tend to be cat people...
Q: Which historical era would you like to live in?
A: The present. Things like bloodletting and surgery without anesthesia are pretty horrifying (but fascinating to read about).
Q: What is your most prized possession in your instrument case?
A: Probably my baroque violin with a fake label that says Johannes Hellmer, Prague, 1770. I like to imagine who made it, who played on it in the centuries since, and how it made its way to America.
Q: Who is one of your favorite, in your opinion, under-rated composers?
A: Thomas Adès. He might actually be overrated for some, but I love his colors and the ridiculous notation. Darkness Visible and his Violin Concerto are incredible music.