Yundi Li

“Mr. Li has major manual skills, including an octave technique scarcely to be believed. The sound he makes on the piano is both vivid and Enormous ... A very real musicality.”

The New York Times, April 2006 (concert review)


1982
Born in Chongqing, People’s Republic of China

1987
Wins first prize at the Chongqing Children’s Accordion Competition

1989
First piano lessons

1991
Begins studies with Dan Zhao Yi, one of China’s most renowned piano teachers; already has ambitions of becoming a professional pianist

1994
Enters junior high school attached to the Sichuan Music Academy

1995
Wins Stravinsky International Youth Piano Competition in Champaign, Illinois

1996
Moves to Shenzhen and begins studies at the Shenzhen Arts School

1998
Wins third prize at the Seventh Missouri Southern International Piano Competition, junior division, in Joplin

1999
Wins first prize at the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition in Salt Lake City, Utah; third prize at the Second China International Piano Competition in Beijing; and third prize at the Fifth Liszt International Piano Competition in Utrecht, Netherlands

2000
Wins first prize on 4 October at the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, the first time the top prize has been awarded for 15 years. Also receives the award for best performance of a Polonaise and becomes the youngest first-prize winner in the competition’s history

2001
Signs exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon. Recital tour playing Chopin includes Los Angeles, Toronto, Germany and Poland

2002
Release of his first recording for Deutsche Grammophon with works by Chopin. Gives recitals of works by Chopin and Liszt in Japan, China, Germany, France, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands

2003
American concerto debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra performing Chopin’s Concerto no. 1; further performances with the Cincinnati Symphony and Paavo Järvi in the US and Berlin, and with the NHK Symphony in Japan. Performances of Grieg’s Concerto with the Cincinnati Symphony and Paavo Järvi in Japan, with the Moscow Philharmonic and Yuri Simonow on a tour of Germany, and with the Budapest Festival Orchestra. Recital debuts at Carnegie Hall and the Salzburg Festival playing Chopin and Liszt. Recitals in Prague, Paris, Verbier and Mallorca and honoured at a special reception at the home of the Chinese Ambassador in Washington, DC, where he performs Liszt for officials and guests including former Secretary of State Alexander Hague. His second recording, of works by Liszt, is released to extraordinary acclaim (Echo Award, 2003).

2004
Engagements include performances of the Grieg Concerto with the San Francisco Symphony and Stefan Sanderling, the First Chopin Concerto in Spain with the Orquesta Nacional de España under Antoni Wit and in Kuala Lumpur with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by James Judd, and Liszt’s Piano Concerto no. 1 in Germany, as well as recitals throughout Europe, in the USA, Canada and Hong Kong. CD/SACD release of Chopin’s four Scherzos and Impromptus nos. 1–3

2005
Performances of the Grieg Concerto with Sawallisch and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the First Chopin Concerto with the American Youth Symphony (including at Carnegie Hall). Recitals throughout Europe, the USA, in Taiwan and Japan. Concerts (with James Levine) and chamber-music appearances (with Dmitry Sitkovetsky and Jian Wang) at the 2005 Verbier Festival. Further concerts with the Dresden Staatskapelle and Paavo Järvi (including an extensive German tour), with the UBS Verbier Festival Youth Orchestra and James Levine in Paris, Rome and Hamburg; and on tour in Japan with Seiji Ozawa and the New Japan Philharmonic. CD release: “Yundi Li – Vienna Recital” (works by Mozart, Schumann, Liszt and Scarlatti); DVD release: “Yundi Li – Live in Concert” (works by Chopin, Liszt and Wang)

2006
His busy schedule includes concerts with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in Hong Kong, the London Symphony Orchestra in London’s Barbican Centre and Seoul, South Korea, numerous appearances with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Gustavo Dudamel in several Israeli cities and in Spoleto, Italy, with the Wiener Symphoniker in Vienna’s Musikverein and in Japan, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin in the Philharmonie, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra in Zurich’s Tonhalle; recitals throughout the USA (including New York’s Carnegie Hall), Canada, Germany, London (Queen Elizabeth Hall), Paris (Théâtre du Châtelet), Finland, Denmark and Luxemburg. The year concludes with an extensive recital tour throughout China. Yundi Li records Liszt’s and Chopin’s First Piano Concertos with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Sir Andrew Davis; the CD is due for international release early in 2007