Countertenor and actor Andy Shen Liu(刘珅) has performed to wide acclaim in major venues around the world including Lincoln Center and Royal Albert Hall. He is hailed as “little short of sensational”(Opera Now) for his unique musical and dramatic persona. 

In the 2022/23 season, Liu takes the role of Eurindo in Alessandro Stradella’s La Forza dell’amor Paterno (“Power of Paternal Love”) with Barber Opera, marking its first performances since 17th century, and originating the role of Prosecutor/Scapegoat in Zhenyan Li’s Cummings and Goerings at Tête à Tête Festival in London. The season will conclude with his “For Crying Out Loud” recitals at Wigmore Hall in London and his singing will be also heard in the radio play She Stoops to Conquer on BBC 3.

Andy Shen Liu traveled back to China briefly in 2020, where he sang Mahler 4th Symphony with Ningbo Symphony Orchestra at Ningbo Grand Theater and China Philharmonic Orchestra at Beijing Music Festival, under the baton of Long Yu. He performed two sold-out solo cabarets at Blue Note China, becoming the first opera singer to headline at the world-renowned Jazz club. CGTN exclusively reported the cabaret: “From Debussy to George Gershwin, from opera to jazz, Liu showed off his talented voice, mastery of performance, and his favorite golden era.” Andy is excited to return to Beijing Music Festival to play Ernesto in the China premiere of Haydn’s Il Mondo della Luna in 2023. 

In 2021, Liu was engaged to play the title role of Teuzzone in Vivaldi’s Teuzzone, under the direction of Jordi Savall at Théâtre du Capitole and The Philharmonie de Paris with Les Concerts de Nations. Meanwhile, platforms including China National Radio and CGTN have broadcasted multiple interviews with him and he was also the special guest on CGTN’s Lunar New Year Special, which was live streamed worldwide and watched by millions. Later, he appeared in China Fashion Week. 

Since Liu’s operatic debut at the age of 7, he sang the roles of Sem and Jaffet in the China premieres of Britten’s Noye’s Fludde in the production of Northern Ireland Opera, directed by Oliver Mears, and Cupid in John Blow’s Venus and Adonis. He has held a large number of recitals at elite venues across the world, and appeared in numerous concerts with orchestras such as Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and Deutsche Radio Philharmonie. Liu and Lang Lang each gave a half of their performance for Shenzhen Symphony’s New Year Gala when he was 11 years old. That year, he released his first solo album - “Opera Elf”, to great success. Renowned musicians such as Lorin Maazel praised Liu’s musical talent after listening to his album. 

As he was graduating from elementary school, Liu made his U.S. debut at David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center to perform with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 2013. He sang in the world premiere of Xiaogang Ye’s Twilight of Himalayas, Op. 68, a piece specially written for him supported by John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He became the youngest Chinese singer to ever perform on the stage of Lincoln Center. Later Liu reprised his widely-acclaimed performance of the same piece in Germany and China, with a live recording released on the Deutsche Grammophon label as a part of Great Recordings series. He was also the soloist in the China premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms with the Shanghai Opera House under the baton of Will Humburg, as a major highlight of the worldwide Bernstein centenary celebrations in China in 2017.

Liu has made many appearances on TV internationally, including his live performances on CCTV, Beijing TV Spring Festival’s Gala and a documentary on France 3 about his musical life. His singing voice is also featured in major Chinese films and TV series, including My Heart Leaps Up (2017), Hello Mrs.Money (2018) and Yimou Zhang’s Lady of the Dynasty (2015).

Liu fell in love with opera after his parents took him to see La Traviata at the age of 5. A few weeks later, his parents found out that he could sing sections from the opera by memory. Months later, Liu learned more operatic repertoires through intimating the singing from the DVDS and CDs his father would play on the car. At the age of 7, he made his debut concert performance at the Central Conservatory Grand Concert Hall, singing “queen of night”. The video of his performance was posted to Youtube and it has received more than 556k views. 

Andy Shen is a graduate of The Juilliard School’s Pre-College where he studied with Lorraine Nubar and Royal Academy of Music in London where he studied under Michael Chance CBE.