George Li

Pianist George Li appeared before U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel during his teenage years. From that early platform he advanced to claim a silver medal at the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Russia, establishing himself as an international recitalist and becoming a mainstay on the Warner Classics roster, which released his album Movements in 2024.

Born in Boston on August 24, 1995, to Chinese immigrant parents, Li began piano lessons at age four and later attended the Walnut Hill boarding school in nearby Natick. While still six and seven he captured consecutive first prizes in the Massachusetts Music Teachers state competitions, earned second prizes in two international youth contests, and transferred to the New England Conservatory Preparatory School for study with Wha Kyung Byun and Russell Sherman. At nine he made his orchestral debut in China with the Xiamen Philharmonic; two years later he played Carnegie Hall in New York and, within a fortnight, appeared on Martha Stewart’s television program. In 2011 he performed at a White House state dinner honoring Obama and Merkel, and the following year he received the Gilmore Young Artists Grant.

During high school and college he appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel, the San Francisco Symphony, the London Symphony Orchestra on an Asian tour, and numerous additional ensembles. Recital engagements took him to the Louvre, Tokyo’s Asahi Hall, the Edinburgh Festival, and other major stages. He developed a particularly close association with St. Petersburg, performing often with the Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev both in Russia and abroad; a Mariinsky Theater recital that included Rachmaninov’s Variations on a Theme by Corelli was recorded and issued in 2017 as his first Warner Classics release.

Although admitted to Harvard, Yale, the Juilliard School, and the Curtis Institute, Li pursued a joint degree at Harvard and the New England Conservatory, completing it in 2018. He then finished the New England Conservatory’s artist diploma program in 2022. Subsequent Warner Classics recordings include Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 23, from 2019. His 2024 recital Movements presents works by Schumann, Ravel, and Stravinsky. Reflecting on his path, he remarked to the Bostonese website, “My parents told me you can always find a teacher among any three people on the street.”