Born in 2002, Jiayi Liu began playing the cello at the age of ten. She currently studies at the Basel Musik Akademie with Professor Danjulo Ishizaka.

Jiayi has been awarded numerous prizes in international competitions. She was a semi-finalist at the George Enescu Competition in Bucharest, and have won the Young Musician Prize at the Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann in 2022. Her previous accolades include Third Prize at the Buchet International Competition and First Prize at the Janigro Junior Cello Competition , where she also received the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra Award.

She has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in renowned venues such as the Berliner Philharmonie, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Zürich Tonhalle, Romanian Athenaeum, Beijing National Centre for the Performing Arts, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Concert Hall to name a few. 

Jiayi has appeared in renowned international festivals as soloist or chamber musician, including the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Kronberg Festival, Mendelssohn Festival, Budapest Festival Academy, NUME  Festival and George Enescu Festival. Through these appearances, she has shared the stage with distinguished musicians such as Vlad Stanculeasa, Ettore Causa, Boris Kusnezow, Barbara Doll, and Philippe Bach, among others.

She has also participated in masterclasses with renowned musicians including Tabea Zimmermann, Frans Helmerson, Arto Noras, Steven Isserlis, Ivan Monighetti, Jens Peter Maintz, and Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt. She is generously supported by the Rahn Kulturfonds, LGT Private Bank’s LGT Solist Program, the Minister of Education Basel-City, and the Morningside Music Bridge Program.

Jiayi currently plays on a Carlo Ferdinando Landolfi cello, kindly loaned to her through a private grant.

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