Golden Touch | Musica Viva!

Pianist Jiale Li was born in Huludao, Liaoning Province, China. In 2020, Li won the gold medal at the first Gurwitz International Piano Competition. The following year, he graduated from the Eastman School of Music with a DMA under the guidance of Ms. Nelita True and Ms. Natalya Antonova. Previously during his studies, Li won the first prize in the Eastman Concerto Competition and performed Liszt’s First Piano Concerto in Eb major with the Eastman Philharmonic Orchestra. Also, as a winner of the Lowry Award Auditions at Eastman, Li represented the Eastman in a recital, his Carnegie Hall debut, in the Weill Recital Hall in 2018.

Li completed his undergraduate studies at the Juilliard School with Mr. Seymour Lipkin, and participated in several summer courses such as the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, Los Angeles Music Festival, and the ANME Asian New Music Festival.

Since the beginning of his studies at Shenyang Conservatory of Music middle school and Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing during high school, Li has won numerous piano competitions and awards for his playing, including the first prize at the “Conservatory Cup” Piano Competition; first prize and the best performance of Schubert’s works at the Yamaha Award Competition; third place at the 5th International Competition of Young Pianists “A Step Towards Mastery” in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Since winning the Gurwitz, Li has been presenting solo, duo piano (with Wanting Zhao) and chamber music concerts, both online and in-person, including venues in Beijing, Tangshan and Dalian, China.