Atao Liu has build a performing and teaching career in New York City. As an orchestral player, Atao has performed as the principal bassoon in Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, David Geffen Hall, Peter Jay Sharp Theater, Rose Theater of Jazz at Lincoln Center, as well as the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine under the batons of Alan Gilbert, Kurt Masur, Jeffrey Milarsky, George Manahan, Nicholas McGegan, David Robertson, Larry Rachleff, Leon Botstein, Gerard Schwarz, Pierre Vallet, Jaap van Zweden, David Zinman, etc.

As a New York-based musician, Ms. Liu enjoys an active freelance career; making guest appearances with the American Symphony Orchestra, the Bach Festival of Bethlehem, The Northeastern Pennsylvanian Philharmonic, the Riverside Symphonia, the Syracuse Symphoria, The Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra. In addition, she has been asked twice to give bassoon demonstration for the New York Philharmonic Young People’s Concerts, in 2016 and 2018.

Internationally, Ms. Liu was invited to perform a major China-U.S. tour with the National Center of the Performing Arts (NCPA) Orchestra of China 2017. She has performed several concerts in China and toured six cities with NCPA orchestra in the United States: Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, Ann Arbor, Chapel Hill, and San Francisco. Soon after this tour, she has become a guest musician with the Beijing Symphony.

Ms. Liu has presented several solo recitals at Bowdoin Music International Music Festival, The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music and Idyllwild Arts Academy. She was a semifinalist in the 2012 Meg Quigley Vivaldi International Bassoon competition. A veteran of numerous festivals, Ms. Liu was a fellowship recipient twice at Bowdoin International Music Festival, other festivals include Eastern Music Festival, Interlochen Arts Camp, and she has participated in the Hidden Valley Music Seminar and the Sequoia Chamber Music Workshop.

Ms. Liu has awarded the position of Teaching Assistant at Stony Brook University where she prepares University Undergraduate Orchestra rehearsals and giving woodwind sectionals. Currently, she holds faculty position at the Tutti Music Studio in Little Neck. Many of her students were successfully admitted to The Juilliard School Pre-college. Her ABRSM music theory and piano students have achieved excellent scores in their exams. Besides teaching and performing, Ms. Liu makes hand-crafted reeds that have been well received by professional and none professional bassoonists.

Atao started piano at age 5 and entered the middle school attached to Central Conservatory of Music at age 11 as a piano major. Sitting in the audience at an orchestral concert she heard the beautiful dark tone of the bassoon and was enchanted. She began to majoring bassoon performance from 2002, and was subsequently recruited as a scholarship student to the Idyllwild Arts Academy, CA. Ms. Liu has completed her Bachelor’s degree at Manhattan School of Music. During her undergraduate studies, she played principal bassoon with the New York Youth Symphony. Ms. Liu received a master's degree from The Juilliard School and a doctoral’s degree from Stony Brook University. Her previous teachers were Carolyn Beck, Kim Laskowski, Frank Morelli and Zhu Jun.