Praised as The Wire magazine as "iridescent delicacy" and "dissolves it (musical materials) in a vat of acid", and described by New York Music Daily as “the big epic,” Anqi Liu is a composer, interdisciplinary/multimedia artist, photographer and film maker. Her solo album featured her improvisatory performance with synthesizers, was described as “detailed, narrative-driven sound that traipses across the physical and historical world to make connections we might not initially perceive.” by Boomkat. The San Diego Union-Tribune reviewed her orchestral work How Light Arrives... praising her unique sense of musical color and compositional introspection.
Her works have been internationally recognized with performances and premieres across the U.S, Europe, and Asia at venues and concert halls like Automata Theater (Los Angeles), The P.I.T (NYC), Downtown Music Gallery (NYC), Le Poisson Rouge (NYC), Shapeshifter Lab (NYC), The Firehouse Space (NYC), Dusk Dawn Club (BJ), Beijing Mao Live House, INNER FIELD (NYC), Spectrum (NYC), MIRY Concertzaal (Belgium), Hotelier Porto (Portugal), Palace of Fontainebleau (France) and others. She has been commissioned by and has been closely working with a group of musicians, ensembles, conferences, residencies, organizations and festivals such as Project [Blank], The Reiefestival 2023 (Belgium), Bludenzer Tage zeitgemäßer Musik 2022 (Austria), ACTOR (McGill University, Montreal), Steven Schick, Kynan Johns, King Britt, Kyle Motl, Nina Vanhoenacker, New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra, Mivos Quartet, DECODA Music, Darmstädter Ferienkurse 2021, Ensemble Dal Niente Summer Residency 2021, International Society of Bassists Convention 2021, Oh My Ears Festival 2021, Ircam ManiFeste the Academy 2020, ELECTRONIC MUSIC WEEKEND MISE-EN_PLACE Bushwick 2019, Kalv Music Academy (Sweden), California Electronic Music Exchange Concert (Stanford), Ecoles d'Art Américaines de Fontainebleau (Paris), International Computer Music Conference 2017 (ICMC), Connecticut Summerfest Contemporary Music Festival, and many others.
Her work illuminates the interplay between human micro-kinetic capabilities and the psychological boundaries that shape our physical and mental ecologies. Anqi interweaves and processes samples of her acoustic compositions with field recordings she has conducted across various lands and communities, as well as improvisational sessions on synthesizers and laptops. Her design approach to signal processing and patching is deeply rooted in sonic evolution, balancing the unpredictability of electronic systems with the tangible artistry of fine-tuning controls. Her practice of recording and mixing embodies a ritualistic ethos, where sonic phenomena arise organically from the system’s possibilities and the known, yet unfold with effortless, ecological fluidity, embracing the unknown, the unpredictable and even accidents. Her audio visual works draw on her photography to generate both gestural and textural elements.
Anqi is part of the Motl/Liu Duo (free improv), the Liu/Bourdeau Duo (audio-visual ecology), and the cross-disciplinary āññā Duo (with Han Zhang). Her portrait album of her acoustic chamber music will be released by KAIROS Music (Vienna). Anqi has taught and designed courses in music theory, composition, multimedia and sound studies at UC San Diego, and currently serves as a subject matter expert at Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design (RMCAD), shaping the BFA in Music Production. A Ph.D. (ABD) candidate in Music Composition at UC San Diego, she holds a Master of Arts in Music Composition from Rutgers University and dual degrees in Music Performance and Law from Xiamen University.