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Born and raised in Calgary, Canada, Liam Pond made his orchestral debut at age twelve on the harpsichord playing Bach’s F minor Concerto with the Kensington Sinfonia. Four years later, he performed the first movement of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Calgary Civic Symphony, later winning first place in his age category at the Canadian Music Competition’s national finals. In 2023, Liam earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto, studying classical piano performance with Dr. Jamie Parker. In his graduation recital, he performed Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit—often considered the most difficult work in the standard piano repertoire—and jazz improvisation based on classical themes, a skill he developed over the pandemic by watching YouTube videos. Liam is currently pursuing a master’s in music technology at McGill University and the Université de Montréal, where he has been teaching ChatGPT music theory. Outside his studies, he enjoys rock climbing, chess, fencing, and language learning.
+ ++ Born and raised in Calgary, Canada, Liam Pond made his orchestral debut at age twelve on the harpsichord, performing Bach’s F minor Concerto with the Kensington Sinfonia. Four years later, he performed the first movement of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Calgary Civic Symphony and subsequently won first place in his age category at the Canadian Music Competition’s national finals. +
++ In 2023, Liam earned his bachelor’s degree in classical piano performance from the University of Toronto under Dr. Jamie Parker. His graduation recital featured Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit— often considered the most difficult work in the standard piano repertoire—alongside his own jazz improvisations, a skill he taught himself over the pandemic by watching YouTube videos. +
++ He has also received numerous academic scholarships and awards, including $40,000 from the Fonds de recherche du Québec to support his thesis work developing a machine learning model to understand the stylistic nuances of different pianists. He has authored six peer-reviewed publications covering topics in computer science, music, engineering, and education. His research has taken him to conferences in South Korea (ISMIR 2025), Denmark (ICCCM 2025), Portugal (CSME 2025), and Japan (MEC 2026). Outside his studies, he enjoys rock climbing, photography, fencing, and language learning. +