About this Artist
Praised by The Washington Post for combining “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 some of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, such as Dudamel, Gaffigan, Gergiev, Gimeno, Honeck, Orozco-Estrada, Petrenko, Pintscher, Robertson, Slatkin, Temirkanov, Tilson Thomas, Long Yu, and Xian Zhang.
In the 2024/25 season Li can be heard across three continents, making debuts with The Philadelphia Orchestra at Saratoga Performing Arts Center and the Minnesota and Belgian National orchestras. Further engagements include returns to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Symphony Tacoma, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Pacific symphonies as well as Nordic Chamber Orchestra in Sweden to play-lead Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 and Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto. Li will appear in recital in Montreal, Singapore, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.
Recent concerto highlights include performances with orchestras of Los Angeles, New York, London, Rotterdam, Oslo, St. Petersburg, Buffalo, San Francisco, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dallas, Tokyo, Frankfurt Radio, Sydney, Nashville, New Jersey, New World, North Carolina, Orange County (Pacific), Valencia, Montreal, and Baltimore. 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. Collaboration with the Mariinsky Orchestra included performances at the Paris Philharmonie, Luxembourg Philharmonie, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Graffenegg Festival, and various venues throughout Russia.
Li is an exclusive Warner Classics recording artist. His debut recital album, released in October 2017, was recorded live at the Mariinsky Theatre. His second recording for the label features Liszt solo works and Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, which was recorded live with Vasily Petrenko and the London Philharmonic Orchestra and released in October 2019. His third album with the label, Movements, was released in summer 2024 to critical acclaim and includes solo dance suites by Schumann, Ravel, and Stravinsky.
Li gave his first public performance at Boston’s Steinway Hall at the age of 10 and in 2011 performed for President Obama at the White House in an evening honoring 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. In 2019, Li completed the Harvard/New England Conservatory Dual-Degree program, with a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature and a Master’s degree in Music, studying with Wha Kyung Byun. He subsequently graduated with an Artist Diploma from New England Conservatory in 2022. When not playing piano, Li is an avid reader and photographer, as well as a sports fanatic.