Boston Philharmonic Blog

Meet George Li

Written by BPO Staff | Nov 10, 2017 2:34:00 PM

Praised by the Washington Post for combining “staggering technical prowess, a sense of command and depth of expression,” pianist George Li possesses brilliant virtuosity and effortless grace far beyond his years.

He captured the Silver Medal at the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition and was the recipient of the 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant.

George will be performing Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Boston Philarmonic Youth Orchestra on November 26th in Symphony Hall.

 

 

George has a long history with Maestro Zander, performing with him on tour, including Beethoven Symphony No. 4 at the Musikverein in Vienna and the Schumann Piano Concerto with the BPYO on tour in Holland. He has also performed several times with the Boston Philharmonic.

He gave his first public performance at Boston’s Steinway Hall at the age of ten and in 2011, performed for President Obama at the White House in an evening honoring German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Among George’s many accolades, he was the First Prize winner of the 2010 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, a recipient of the 2012 Gilmore Young Artist Award, and the second prize winner at the 25th Annual Internation Tchaikovsky Competition (where he performed the composer's Piano Concerto #1).

George is currently in the Harvard University / New England Conservatory joint degree program, studying with Wha Kyung Byun and Russell Sherman.

Here's a sneak peek of George playing the

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto #1:

Recent and upcoming concerto highlights include performances with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony, Hamburg Philharmonic with Manfred Honeck, a tour of Asia with the London Symphony Orchestra and Giandrea Noseda, St. Petersburg Philharmonic with Yuri Temirkanov, Philharmonia Orchestra with Long Yu, Oslo Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lyon, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Mälmo Symphony, Verbier Festival Orchestra, DSO Berlin, Seattle Symphony, Utah Symphony, Sydney Symphony and Frankfurt Radio Symphony. He frequently appears with Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra, including performances at the Paris Philharmonie, Luxemburg Philharmonie, New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music, Graffenegg Festival and in various places throughout Russia.

Recital highlights include Carnegie Hall, Davies Hall in San Francisco, the Mariinsky Theatre, Munich’s Gasteig, the Louvre, Seoul Arts Center, Tokyo’s Asahi Hall and Musashino Hall, NCPA Beijing, Ravinia Festival, Lanaudiere Festival, Edinburgh Festival and Montreaux Festival.

An active chamber musician, George has performed chamber music with James Ehnes, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Benjamin Beilman, Kian Soltani, Pablo Ferrandez and Daniel Lozakovich.

This concert is produced in collaboration with Music for Food, a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to fighting food insecurity in our community.