... , born in Hong Kong, moved to Beijing at the age of 14 to study piano at the famous Attached Middle School of the Central Conservatory of Music. This was the beginning of an adventure that has since taken her to three continents and led to her appointment as Professor of Piano at the prestigious Xinghai Conservatory of Music in Guangzhou, China.

Claire Chiu's education is truly international. After graduating from Attached Middle School in 1999, she went to the Eastman School of Music in Rochester (New York, USA), where she studied with Fernando Laires and received her bachelor's degree in 2003. Chiu then attended the Yale School of Music (New Haven, USA), where she studied with Peter Frankl and Melvin Chen. After graduating from Yale, she travelled to Paris to study with Marian Rybicki at the Ecole Normale de Musique. She then studied at UCLA (Los Angeles, USA) with Walter Ponce and obtained a doctorate in musicology (DMA) in 2009.

She now teaches at the Xinghai Conservatory of Music in Guangzhou, China. She primarily offers undergraduate and graduate piano lessons, teaches chamber music, conducts piano duo classes and teaches a popular piano pedagogy course. Her students have been invited to perform in famous concert halls, music festivals and competitions and have won national and international prizes. These include Carnegie Hall in New York, the Kennedy Center for the Arts in Washington DC, Tivoli-Vredenburg in the Netherlands, the New Zealand International Music Festival, the Sicily International Piano Festival in Italy and the Ettlingen International Piano Competition in Germany. Her students are accepted on scholarships at world-famous music schools such as the Julliard School, the Cleveland Institute of Music, Boston University, the Manhattan School of Music, the Mannes School of Music, the New England Conservatory of Music, the Royal Academy of Music, Sydney University, the Central Conservatory of Music and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Claire Chiu has also published articles on contemporary Chinese piano music in renowned Chinese music journals and has taken part in numerous piano competitions as a judge.
Claire Chiu is one of the most prominent Chinese pianists, specialising in the performance of works by many Chinese composers such as Chen Yi, Ye Xiaogang, Zhou Long, Bright Sheng, Ge Ganru, Zhang Zhao and Gao Ping, performing brilliantly on international stages in Asia, Europe and North America. The famous Chinese pianist and pedagogue Guangren Zhou once said of her playing: "Her technique is clean and precise, with many contrasts in tone colour and a convincing performance style." The official website of the Chinese National Conservatory of Music praised her performance as "the best interpretation of contemporary Chinese piano music so far; her spirit and attitude have left a deep impression." The Central Conservatory of Music reported very favourable reviews, and the Steinway Company website described Claire Chiu as an "outstanding pianist".