Praised by the Washington Post for “staggering technical prowess, a sense of command and depth of expression,” pianist George Li possesses an effortless grace, poised authority and brilliant virtuosity far beyond his years.
Since winning the silver medal at the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition, Li has rapidly established a major international reputation and performs regularly with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors such as Gustavo Dudamel, James Gaffigan, Valery Gergiev, Gustavo Gimeno, Manfred Honeck, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Kirill Petrenko, David Robertson, Leonard Slatkin, Yuri Temirkanov, Michael Tilson Thomas, Long Yu and Xian Zhang.
Recent and upcoming concerto highlights include performances with the Los Angeles, New York, London, Rotterdam, Oslo and St. Petersburg philharmonics; the San Francisco, Tokyo, Frankfurt Radio, Sydney and Montreal symphonies, as well as the Philharmonia, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Orchestre National de Lyon. In the 2019–20 season, Li performed with the Baltimore, Fort Worth and New Jersey symphony orchestras, as well as with the Buffalo Philharmonic and National Arts Centre Orchestra. His eight-concert tour of Germany with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra included performances at the Berlin Philharmonie, Philharmonie am Gasteig Munich, and the Stuttgart Liederhalle.
He frequently appears with Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra, including performances at the Paris Philharmonie, Luxembourg Philharmonie, New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music, Graffenegg Festival and in various venues throughout Russia.
In recital, Li performs at venues including Carnegie Hall, Davies Hall in San Francisco, the Mariinsky Theatre, Elbphilharmonie, Munich’s Gasteig, the Louvre, Seoul Arts Center, Tokyo’s Asahi Hall and Musashino Hall, NCPA Beijing, Shanghai Poly Theater and Amici della Musica Firenze, as well as appearances at major festivals including the Edinburgh International Festival, Verbier Festival, Ravinia Festival, Festival de Pâques in Aix-en-Provence Festival and Montreux Festival.
An active chamber musician, Li has performed alongside Benjamin Beilman, Noah Bendix-Balgley, James Ehnes, Daniel Hope, Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Kian Soltani. Li is an exclusive Warner Classics recording artist, with his debut recital album released in October 2017, which was recorded live at the Mariinsky. His second recording for the label features Liszt solo works and Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1, which was recorded live with Vasily Petrenko and the London Philharmonic, and was released in October 2019.
At the age of 10, Li gave his first public performance at Boston’s Steinway Hall, and in 2011, performed for President Barack Obama at the White House in an evening honoring German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Among Li’s many prizes, he was the recipient of the 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant, a recipient of the 2012 Gilmore Young Artist Award and the first-prize winner of the 2010 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. He is pursuing an artist diploma at the New England Conservatory, continuing to work with Wha Kyung Byun. When not playing piano, Li is an avid reader and photographer, as well as a sports fanatic.
August 2020
