Music Department

Director of the Suzuki Violin Academy and Conductor of the Orchestra

Selected 2003 Outstanding University Faculty Member

Dr. Kexi Liu , a native of Beijing China, came to the United States in 1984. He received his Master of Music Degree at East Carolina University in 1987 and earned his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1993. He is the first person to receive a doctorate in violin performance in the University of North Carolina system and is also the first from Mainland China to receive such a degree. Since 1991, he has been on the music faculty at Missouri Southern State University. He is currently an associate professor of music at MSSU, director of Suzuki Violin Academy, and director of Southern Symphony Orchestra. Before he came to America, he had been a first violin in the China Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra for ten years and had taught at Beijing Broadcasting College for several years.

Liu is an active performer. He performs frequently solo recitals and chamber music concerts in America, Asia, and Europe. He has also been concertmaster of several orchestras in America. He is enthusiastic about introducing Chinese music to American people. He performed the American premiere of the first Chinese violin concerto, Liang and Zhu-The Butterfly Lovers, in 1992 and conducted the American premiere of the string orchestra version of The Reflection of the Moon on Erquan Spring.

Dr. Liu is a published author. His publications in music include two books and an article on violin teaching published in the prestigious British journal, The Strad.