Program

About the Artist

Chinese pianist Ying Li entered the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia in 2012 as a student of Robert McDonald, Seymour Lipkin, and Jonathan Biss. She graduated from Curtis in 2019 and began work on a graduate degree at The Juilliard School in New York, where she studies with Robert McDonald.

Ms. Li has appeared as a soloist with numerous orchestras including her most recent debut with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. She has also worked with Symphony in C, the Longwood Symphony Orchestra, the Brevard Music Center Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, and the “Mihail Jora” Philharmonic Orchestra of Romania.

Some highlights among her competition awards are First prize in the Artist Series of Sarasota national competition, First prizes of both Solo Competition and Concerto Competition of the Brevard Music Festival, First prize in the 7th Liszt International Competition for Young Pianists in Moscow, Russia, and the First prize and the audience prize in the 7th International Competition for Young Pianists ‘A Step Towards Mastery’ in St. Petersburg, Russia. As an avid chamber musician, Ms. Li has participated in Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute in Chicago, Four Seasons Winter Workshop in NC, and in summer 2019, she will be joining the prestigious La Jolla Music Society in California.

About the Music

Mozart published a set of three piano sonatas in 1784. In the third one, KV 332, he achieved new heights of expressive drama and virtuosity. Pianist Earl Wild recommended playing the striking melodies as if they were written for an orchestral instrument or a singer, in order to get the proper sound and phrasing.

Paraphrase de concert sur Rigoletto, S. 434 is a concert piece composed by Franz Liszt sometime between the years 1855 and 1859. It is based on the quartet “Bella figlia dell’amore” from Act III of the Verdi opera.