Riley is a freshman at Valley Christian High School where he is an honor artist in VCHS conservatory. At the age of 7, he started playing music while he learned various instruments including piano, drum set and marimba. He is currently a percussionist at the Golden State Youth Symphony Orchestra and is also taking percussion lessons with Tammy Chen. He was fortunate to have master classes with some of the greatest marimba artists such as Gordon Stout, WeiChen Lin, Ming-Hui Kuo, Eriko Daimo, Pius Cheung, and Twincussion. Besides music, Riley loves to follow weather and high speed train news, enjoys volunteering at local food banks and therapy animal organizations, and likes to travel with family.
Watch Riley Liao perform Concerto for Marimba Mov. 1 by Sergei Golovko on the marimba for the 2026 Classical Music Competition as part of the Charleston International Music Competition.