Liu Shikun

Liu Shikun

Liu Shikun, born in Tianjin in 1939, is a pianist, composer, music educator and member of the National Committee of the Chinese people's Political Consultative Conference. He graduated from Moscow Conservatory of music.

In 1956, the Liszt Piano Competition held in Hungary won a special prize. In 1958, he won the second place in the "Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition" held in Moscow, the former Soviet Union. After returning from the competition, under the instruction of Chairman Mao, he wrote "Youth Piano Concerto". In 1960, he was sent to Moscow Conservatory of music to study. In 1964, he was personally received by Chairman Mao and had a profound conversation with him. In 1978, he became the first artist to visit the United States on behalf of the mainland of China. U.S. President Carter met him at the White House. Since 1990, Liu Shikun has been engaged in children's music education and has lived in Hong Kong for a long time.

Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping and other leaders of the old generation of China have specially listened to Liu Shikun's performance and had long talks with him respectively. Jiang Zemin and other contemporary Chinese leaders have also listened to him. The supreme leader of the former Soviet Union, President of the United States, president of France, Prime Minister of Denmark, Prime Minister of Poland, Empress Dowager of Belgium, speaker of the Hungarian Parliament, and Vice Prime Minister of Singapore have all received him I met him, and British Prime Minister Sean wrote to him. He has played in dozens of countries in the world, and has been recorded and released many times in China, the United States, Japan, Russia and other countries. Among them, the piano Association record, which he co recorded with the Boston Symphony Orchestra of the United States, directed by the world conductor Seiji Ozawa, has become one of the most popular gold classical music records in the world. He has also lectured in many countries and served as the judge of many international piano competitions. He is also a composer who has created many music works. At 19:30 p.m. on November 4, 2017, in the opening program of the first issue of "I want to go to the Spring Festival Gala" officially landed on CCTV variety channel, he played the accompaniment of "flame" dance performed by Chongqing Aibo Art Troupe "pattern grandma".

Character experience

In 1951, he was admitted to the middle school attached to the Central Conservatory of music. In 1955, he studied piano with tatuliang, a piano player of the Soviet Union. Tatuliang commented on Liu Shikun: "this is a great genius. He belongs to the world."

In 1956, he participated in the Liszt International Piano Competition held in Budapest and won the third prize and Hungarian Rhapsody performance award.

In 1958, he took part in the first Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition held in Moscow and won the second prize.

In 1959, he performed in the Great Hall of the people for the 10th anniversary of the national day.

In 1960, he went to Moscow to study piano with Professor Feinberg. In 1973, he performed for the visiting Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra in Beijing.

In 1978, he toured the United States, was invited to perform in the White House, and recorded Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra.

In 1985, he performed in Canada.

In June 2010, a concert was held in the Hong Kong Red Chamber; in June 2010, a concert was held in Zhongshan music hall in cooperation with conductor Tan Lihua and Beijing Symphony Orchestra.

In June 2011, he held a piano solo concert in Chengdu, playing Bach's Prelude in C major and Mozart's Sonata in G major.

In September 2012, he cooperated with Sheng Zhongguo, a violinist, to hold a concert in Guilin; in May of the same year, he held a piano solo concert and a master class in Harbin concert hall.

In July 2013, he held a concert with violinist Lu Siqing and other artists at Lincoln Center in New York, USA.

In March 2014, a piano solo concert was held in Tianjin Grand Theater.

In March 2016, he held a solo concert in Changsha concert hall, playing Prelude in C major and other works.

In December 2017, he cooperated with Sheng Zhongguo, a violinist, to hold a concert in Guangzhou Grand Theater, playing works such as the Yellow River.

His father Liu Xiaodong was infatuated with music when he was young. After graduating from Shandong University, he applied to Shanghai National Conservatory of music, majoring in bass bel canto. However, he did not step onto the music stage and entered the business world.

Out of instinct, he keenly discovered his son's musical talent and placed his musical ideal on him. He bought four imported pianos and tens of thousands of records at home, and did his best to train Liu Shikun.

Liu Shikun was born in 1939 in a wealthy merchant family. His affinity with piano comes from his father's influence. He began to learn piano at the age of 3 and performed at the age of 5. At the age of 10, he won the national top-level children's piano competition in Shanghai. After that, he successively studied in junior class of Shanghai Conservatory of music, middle school attached to Central Conservatory of music and Central Conservatory of music.

In 1956, Liu Shikun won the third prize in the Liszt International Piano Competition held in Hungary and the special award for performance of Hungarian Rhapsody. As an exception, the Hungarian government took out a bunch of Liszt's hair preserved in the National Museum as a prize to reward the Chinese teenager. Because of his excellent performance, he was also sent to Moscow Conservatory of music to study.

In April 1958, the first Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition was held in Moscow. Liu Shikun won the second place in the world top piano competition, which was recognized as the highest level and the most difficult at that time and was known as the "highest Olympic competition in the international music world". Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union, sent a telegram to Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai to congratulate them. So as to become famous in the world music world.

After returning to China from the competition, under the instruction of Chairman Mao, he spent half a year creating "Youth Piano Concerto", as well as Piano Concerto "war typhoon" and many other music works.

In 1966, when the "Cultural Revolution" began, four of Ye Shuai's six children, his two sons-in-law and the nanny who took care of Maomao in Liu Shikun's house were all put into prison in a short time. Among these people, Liu Shikun was the first to be arrested and the last to be released.

On April 2, 1967, Jiang Qing sent a special person to the Central Conservatory of music to announce the spirit: "Liu Shikun is a time bomb hidden around us. He has a backstage. You should see Liu Shikun's backstage, the black hand reaching out to the literary and art circles!" Immediately, the slogan of "cutting off Ye Jianying's black hand in the literary and art circles" went on the street immediately. Liu Shikun was also ordered by the school's "revolutionaries" to leave the Marshal's home within three days and return to the Central Conservatory of music to accept the dictatorship of the masses.

When Liu Shikun came back to the Marshal's home, he said to Ye Xiangzhen, "I've been identified as a counter revolutionary. You haven't been named yet. Let's divorce. Only in this way can you be protected and you won't be involved." Because the public security organs at that time had been smashed, Liu Shikun and ye Xiangzhen finally found the Beijing Garrison headquarters and went through the divorce procedures.

As soon as he walked out of the gate of the Marshal's house, a few trucks of red guards waiting outside immediately escorted Liu Shikun back to the Central Conservatory of music, and Liu Shikun was immediately isolated.

After entering Qincheng prison, Liu Shikun was put into a single room. Under the instruction of Jiang Qing, the management staff coerced him to make up some materials to expose Ye Shuai. With Liu Shikun's refusal, all kinds of extorting confessions by torture also poured in. He was soon tortured to death.

Just when Liu Shikun was almost desperate, he found a shabby newspaper when he was changing his room, which carried the news that ye Shuai accompanied Chairman Mao to meet revolutionary mass organizations. He hid this newspaper in his arms like a treasure. Ye Shuai hasn't fallen yet. He must let him know Jiang Qing's plot and his own experience.

There is no pen and no paper in the cell. How can we send a message? Fortunately, the prison sends people's daily to study every day, so Liu Shikun conceives a letter draft to memorize all the words he needs. Every day after the newspaper was distributed, he used the tip of the broom in his cell to pick out the words he needed from the newspaper. When the words were collected, he used the corn flour to paste the words on the newspaper. Three months later, the letter was finally completed.

After the September 13 incident in 1972, Lin Biao fell, and ye Shuai immediately presided over the work of the Central Military Commission. Later, ye Shuai's children were all released, with the exception of Liu Shikun. He has known Jiang Qing's plot to overthrow Ye Shuai. Jiang Qing continues to detain him on the ground that he is no longer Ye Shuai's son-in-law.

After ye Xiangzhen was free, the first thing he did was to visit Liu Shikun. Liu Shikun slipped the letter into Ye Xiangzhen's hand under the table. Two days later, the letter went directly to Chairman Mao, who personally issued the "highest instruction": "release Liu Shikun, you should care about Liu Shikun, let him do something about the national piano, let him continue to perform."

During the "Cultural Revolution" period, Liu Shikun's arm was cracked by the red guards with military belt and copper buckle. He was in prison for five years and was forced to divorce. In 1973, after Chairman Mao's intervention, the prison life ended.

Acting experience

In 1978, Liu Shikun visited the United States and became the first artist to visit the United States on behalf of mainland China. U.S. President Carter met him at the White House.

In 1979, Liu Shikun and Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa performed Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat in Beijing.

In January 1990, the power of love made Liu Shikun full of youthful vitality. The tide of reform and opening up ignited his dream of starting from scratch and creating new businesses again. After getting married, Liu Shikun felt that life could not go on like this. He had to work hard and become famous so that his wife could have the best life with him. He decided to emigrate to Hong Kong

Chinese PinYin : Liu Shi Kun