Biography

George Li gave his first public performance at Boston’s Steinway Hall at age ten and in 2011 performed for President Obama at the White House in an evening honoring German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He won the silver medal at the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition, was the recipient of the 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant, and the 2012 Gilmore Young Artist Award, and the first prize winner of the 2010 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. In summer 2018, Mr. Li graduated from the Harvard University/New England Conservatory joint degree program, where he studied with Wha Kyung Byun. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut last season.

In the 2018-19 season, Mr. Li makes his debuts with the London Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony, Tokyo Symphony, and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic; embarks on an eleven-city recital tour of China; and tours the United States with the Russian National Orchestra and Mikhail Pletnev. Concerto highlights include performances with the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lyon, Sydney Symphony, and Saint Petersburg Philharmonic. He frequently appears with Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra, including performances at the Paris Philharmonie, Luxembourg Philharmonie, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Graffenegg Festival, and in various venues throughout Russia.

In recital, Mr. Li performed at venues including Carnegie Hall, the Mariinsky Theatre, Munich’s Gasteig, the Louvre, Seoul Arts Center, Tokyo’s Asahi Hall and Musashino Hall, China’s National Centre for the Performing Arts, Shanghai Poly Theater, and Amici della Musica Firenze, and made appearances at the Edinburgh International Festival, Ravinia Festival, Aix-en-Provence Festival de Pâques, and Montreux Festival.

An active chamber musician, Mr. Li has performed alongside James Ehnes, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Benjamin Beilman, Kian Soltani, Pablo Ferrandez, and Daniel Lozakovich, and future plans include collaborations with Daniel Hope, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, and Lawrence Power. He is an exclusive Warner Classics recording artist; his debut recital album, recorded live from the Mariinsky, was released in October 2017. Mr. Li is a Steinway Artist.

(March 2019)