Brazilian-American pianist Dr. Rafael Liebich is highly sought after as a soloist, collaborative musician, recording artist, educator, and adjudicator. He is an awarded pianist, having taken masterclasses with pianists Claude Helfer, Cristina Ortiz, Arnaldo Cohen, Kyoko Hashimoto, Dang Thai Son, among others. In his native Brazil, Dr. Liebich received degrees from the State University of Campinas (B.M., 2001) and the Federal University of the Rio Grande do Sul State (M.M., 2004). Before moving to California, he served as assistant faculty at the School for Music and Fine Arts of the State of Parana, in Curitiba (south Brazil).

In 2007, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California (completed in 2012), where he studied with Dr. Stewart Gordon, with supporting areas of Music Education, Keyboard Collaborative Arts, and Electroacoustic Media. At USC Thornton, he served as a teaching assistant for the Keyboard Studies Department with full scholarship and worked as an accompanist for the studios of Cynthia Munzer, Gary Glaze, Elizabeth Hynes, and Shigemi Matsumoto. Honors include the Keyboard Ensemble Award, recognition as an Outstanding Graduate from the Keyboard Studies Department, and induction into the Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honors Society.

Dr. Liebich has appeared in numerous concert series across Southern California and served as a scoring musician for short films and documentary soundtracks. His endeavors in keyboard literature with electroacoustic media led to performances with the HEAR NOW Music Festival, “Microfest” (Los Angeles’ Microtonal Music Festival), the “What’s Next?” Ensemble, and the Jacaranda Concert Series, and an album recording with the Helix Collective Ensemble. From 2012 to 2019, he served as assistant director for the “People Inside Electronics” concert series.

As a scholar, his published work includes his dissertation on 20th Century Fugue and Brazilian composer Bruno Kiefer. He has also offered presentations as a member of the International Society of Music Education (ISME) in Beijing, and in Sydney, Australia. He offered solo and collaborative performances, masterclasses, and adjudication for festivals in Brazil, Greece, Southern California, and Washington State.

For fourteen years, he was a teaching-artist at Neighborhood Music School in Boyle Heights – where he also acted as Director of Programs and Evaluation. He was faculty at University of La Verne, where he carried the title of  “Artist-In-Residence” for three years. He joins the piano faculty at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music, while keeping his teaching engagements with El Camino College, and California State University – Los Angeles (CalStateLA). He remains committed to sharing repertoire of his native Brazil with his students and his audiences, as well as exploring music of unrepresented composers. Outside of his professional activities, Dr. Liebich finds pleasure in traveling, taking leisurely walks, culinary endeavors, and tending to his orchid collection.