Katie Liu

Katie Liu joined the Seattle Symphony in September of 2024 as its Associate Principal Viola. She started the violin at age 5 and permanently switched to the viola in her senior year at Princeton University, where she concentrated in Operations Research and Financial Engineering and minored in Computer Science and Musical Performance.

She has had prior corporate working experience in asset management and fintech consulting and commenced her viola pursuits as winner of the Princeton University Concerto Competition; as a soloist, she has performed with the Princeton University Orchestra and Colburn Orchestra. Katie received her Master of Music degree at the Colburn School under the tutelage of Paul Coletti and Teng Li.

During her graduate years in the studio of Ettore Causa, she was section violist at the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and performed regularly with the New York Philharmonic. An active chamber musician, she has performed in the North Shore Chamber Music Festival, the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, Aspect Chamber Music series, and Music on Park Avenue series with pianist Per Tengstrand. Her festival experience as a student includes the NUME Academy, Verbier Festival Academy, Music@Menlo’s International Program, and Kronberg Academy’s Chamber Music Connects the World programme. Katie was a semi-finalist at the 2024 Primrose International Viola Competition and 2023 Oskar Nedbal International Viola Competition.

Katie plays on a viola made for her by Frédéric Chaudière in 2024.