About
Tianqi Du (Danny Du), born in Guiyang Guizhou China in 1992, started playing piano at age 5 with professor Xueyun Chen. Soon after, he showed extraordinary talents for piano and began winning many prizes in Guizhou. At age 12, Du turned to the renowned Chinese piano educator, Professor Zhaoyi Dan, for mentorship.
Du was awarded top prizes in a number of national and international piano competitions including the Hong Kong Toyama Piano Competition, Chinese Final of German Steinway Piano Competition, Germany Wiesbaden Youth Piano Competition, American San Jose International Youth Piano Competition, Japan Asia Chopin Piano Competition, and the Second Beijing International Piano Festival Concerto Competition. He performed numerous concertos including Chopin concerto in E minor, Op.11, Chopin concerto in F minor, Op.21, Schumann concerto in A minor, Op.54, Grieg concerto in A minor, Op.16, Scriabin concerto in F# minor, Op.20, and Ravel concerto in G Major with various orchestras in international venues of Berlin, Jerusalem, Torun, San Jose, Tokyo and major Chinese cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Xiamen, Chongqing and Guiyang.
In 2002, Du participated in the 65th Steinway Youth International Piano Competition China Final and won the 3rd prize. As a member of the jury, Arie Vardi, the world-renowned pianist and pedagogue, highly praised Du’s performance and invited Du to join his public masterclass, which was featured on the well respected Chinese classical music magazine, Piano Artistry. When he was 11, Du held his first recital at the Concert Hall of Guizhou Normal University. In 2015 he graduated from Sichuan Conservatory Of Music with a Bachelor degree.
In 2016, Du moved to the United States to pursue his Masters Degree from the New England Conservatory. There, he devoted himself to the research and performance of J.S. Bach's works while mentored by the reputable American-Taiwanese pianist and professor Meng-Chieh Liu. Du hopes to bring his own pursuit and understanding of J.S. Bach’s music to more audiences. With a deeper understanding of Bach’s music, embodying the exploration of the highest spheres of ideas that unifies humankind, Du wants to share how philosophy, mathematics, science, and art pursue the same objective with more audiences in Bach's world.
In 2018, after two years of diligent practice and thorough contemplation, Du brought his extraordinary rendition of Bach's Goldberg Variations to audiences in Boston, New York, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Chengdu. This tour was highly praised and reported by NBS, CBS, FOX, and Buffalo News among others. Du’s skillful performance and self-directed introduction video gave the audiences both an audio and a visual feast, a truly marvelous experience.