In a recital titled after the artist’s Gold Medal win at the 2020 Gurwitz International Piano Competition, Musical Bridges Around the World presents pianist Jiale Li in “Golden Touch” to open its 26th season of Russell Hill Rogers Musical Evenings at San Fernando Cathedral.
The concert will take place on Sunday 24 September 2023 at 7 p.m. and is free and open to the public. Ticket registration is required at mbaw.org/sfc. This performance marks Li’s first return to San Antonio since his victory, and the program will include romantic virtuoso masterworks by Chopin, Liszt, Schubert, and Rachmaninoff.
One year after winning The Gurwitz 2020 International Piano Competition, Jiale Li graduated from the Eastman School of Music with a DMA and has been presenting solo, duo piano, and chamber music concerts, both online and in person in Beijing, Tangshan and Dalian, China, among others. Previously during his studies at Eastman, Li also won the first prize in their Concerto Competition, and then won the Lowry Award Auditions, which propelled him to his debut at Carnegie Hall in 2018.
Now in 2023, Jiale Li has been serving as one of three preliminary jurists for the 2024 Gurwitz competition, alongside pianists Pasquale Iannone (teacher of 2020 Bronze Medalist Leonardo Colafelice) and Daria Rabotkina. This jury has been reviewing a total of 76 applicants in blind video auditions, to which they will narrow down to twelve contestants that will perform live in San Antonio, TX next year. The 2024 competition will start its series of rounds and special events on 26 January and run through 4 February.
Li’s concert in September is part of Musical Bridges Around the World’s free concert series in the center of downtown San Antonio, Russell Hill Rogers Musical Evenings at San Fernando Cathedral, and now has started to expand its reach to the online stage. This concert will be livestreamed on MBAW’s YouTube channel and will be available to watch there for one week, until pulled for post-production work and distributed later on. This is possible thanks to the generous support from Catholic TV of San Antonio and Texas Public Radio. You may also hear his performance soon on TPR’s radio stations as well!
MBAW thanks its Sponsors & Partners for the support during this 26th season:
Russell Hill Rogers Fund for the Arts, Texas Commission on the Arts, Kronkosky Charitable Foundation, City of San Antonio Department of Arts & Culture, H. E. Butt Foundation, Bexar County, San Antonio Area Foundation, the Brown Foundation, Catholic TV of San Antonio, Texas Public Radio, San Fernando Cathedral, Visit San Antonio, FASTSIGNS Northeast San Antonio, Main Plaza Conservancy