Hanni Liang

Early in her professional life, pianist Hanni Liang embarked on international tours that took her to venues including the Forbidden City Concert Hall in China. Multiple ties link her to the Steinway piano firm, while her engagements have also included the TONALi music education organization. Her first solo album, Voices for solo piano, appeared in 2024 on the Delphian label.

Born in 1993 in Bielefeld within Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia state, Liang began piano studies at age eight. Swift advancement led to lessons with Barbara Szczepanska, a professor at the Hochschule für Musik Robert Schumann in Düsseldorf, where she completed both a music bachelor’s degree and a broader B.A. Further training followed at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater, und Medien in Hannover under Bernd Goetzke; she also worked with Matthias Kirschnereit and maintained frequent collaborations with pianist Maria João Pires, whom she credits with forming her “essential understanding of the language of music.” Designation as a Young Steinway Artist in 2010 supplied financial backing alongside grants from other foundations. Festival appearances encompassed the Klavier-Festival Ruhr, and initial recording credits arrived via the event’s annual releases on the CAvi-music label in 2018 and 2023.

Concert engagements as soloist have included the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and Konzerthaus Berlin, together with international stages such as the Mariinsky Concert Hall in Russia and the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. In 2013 she joined the roster of TONALi-Musicians, an affiliation that stationed her in schools to instruct and motivate young players; within the organization she established the TONALiSTEN collective. Contemporary repertoire holds special interest for her, prompting collaborations with composer Manfred Trojahn that yielded premieres of his new works in 2015 and 2017. Continued association with Steinway prompted the observation, “My Steinway is my best friend with his soul and his own personality. Everyday I'm thankful to meet and to talk with him about music and to find out what we both like.” The Steinway & Sons label signed her, issuing the contemporary recital Voices for solo piano as her debut album there in 2024. She serves as a lecturer at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich.