Peng Liu
Peng Liu is Assistant Professor of Musicology in the Division of Music at Southern Methodist University. Prior to joining SMU, he taught at Truman State University and the University of Texas at Austin, where he received his Ph.D. in Musicology. His current book project, tentatively titled Reinventing the Virtuoso: Anna Caroline de Belleville and Nineteenth-Century Musical Culture, offers the first comprehensive study of Belleville’s strategic career reinvention in response to evolving performance practices, aesthetics, technology and economic factors. In addition to his work on women musicians and piano culture, Dr. Liu's research interests encompass Asian American music, identity politics, and music and meaning.
His articles, reviews, and translations have appeared in The Journal of the Royal Musical Association, The Journal of Musicology, Notes—The Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association (2022a; 2022b; 2026), The Journal of Central Conservatory of Music, The Journal of Tianjin Conservatory of Music and Music Culture Studies. Liu has regularly presented his research at regional, national, and international conferences, including the annual meetings of the American Musicological Society (AMS), the North American Conference on Nineteenth-Century Music, the International Conference on Women’s Work in Music, and the Music of Asian America Conference.
His research has been supported by a COFA/Graduate School Continuing Fellowship at UT-Austin, the H. Robert Cohen/RIPM Fund from the AMS, and the “Music & Letters” Trust Award. In 2018, he was the recipient of the AMS-Southwest Chapter’s Hewitt-Oberdoerffer award for best graduate student paper. As Co-President of UT-Austin’s Association of Graduate Ethno/Musicology Students (AGEMS) in 2018-2019, Liu initiated and chaired the 2019 UT-Austin Graduate Music Conference. He completed his term as a member of the Communications Committee at AMS in 2024 and currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Music History Pedagogy and as a Council Member at AMS. In 2025, he received the Academic Innovation Award at Truman State University for his teaching project, “Engaging Students with Community-Centered Assignments.”
Education
Ph.D. and M.M., Musicology, University of Texas at Austin
B.A., Musicology, China Conservatory of Music
Recent Work
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
“From ‘Sorceress’ to Ambassador: Reading Anna Caroline de Belleville’s Symbiotic Relationships with Her Pianos.” The Journal of the Royal Musical Association 150, no. 1 (May 2025):223–246.
“Constructing a Versatile Virtuoso Persona: Anna Caroline de Belleville and Mediating the Competing Tastes of Critics and Audiences.” The Journal of Musicology 40, no. 1 (Winter 2023): 71–100.
“What might Robert Schumann's Nachtstücke (Op. 23) hold?” Journal of Tianjin Conservatory of Music 137, no. 3 (October 2020): 43–51. [In Chinese]
“A Semiotic Approach to the Singing Style: Analyzing Three First Movements from Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas.” JournaloftheCentralConservatoryofMusic 153, no. 4 (December 2018): 91–102. [In Chinese]
Book Chapters
“Music of Asian Americans.” In Teaching Global Music History: A Resource Book, edited by Gavin Lee. Palgrave Macmillan. Forthcoming.
Invited Essays
“Dialogues between Two Chinese Composers regarding Quan Jihao’s New Piano Piece Qin Yun.” PianoArtistry 9 (September 2012): 57–60. [in Chinese]
Book Reviews
Review for Global Perspectives on Women Pianists, edited by Joe Davies and Natasha Loges. Notes: The Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association. Forthcoming.
Review for The Western Classical Music Industry in Twenty-First Century China, by Weida Weng. Notes: The Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association 82, no. 4 (June 2026): 534–537.
Review for Chen Yi, by Leta E. Miller and J. Michele Edwards. Notes: The Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association 79, no. 2 (December 2022): 230–233.
Review for Exploring Musical Narratology: The Romeo and Juliet Myth in Music, by Małgorzata Pawłowska. Notes: The Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association 78, no. 3 (March 2022): 413–416.
Translations
Chinese translator for TransformationalPianoTeaching: MentoringStudentsfromAllWalksofLife, by Derek Kealii Polischuk (Oxford University Press, 2019), Shanghai Music Publishing House, 2026.
Chinese translator for Robert Hatten, “Staging Subjectivity as Spiritual Freedom: Beethoven’s ‘Emergent’ Themes.” Music Culture Studies 18, no. 2 (2021): 157–67.
Chinese translator for MusicintheAir (MITA).
Distinctions
Council Member-At-Large, American Musicological Society, 2026–2029
Editorial Board Member, The Journal of Music History Pedagogy, 2024–present
Academic Innovation Award, Truman State University, 2025
Communications Committee Member, American Musicological Society, 2020–2023
Course list
| Survey of Western Art Music History | MUHI 3301 |
| Introduction to Graduate Studies | MUHI 6335 |
