Si-Yan Darren Li
Lecturer in Music, Cello
Si-Yan Darren Li made his first professional debut performing the Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto at the age of nine. Since then, he has appeared in solo recitals and chamber music performances in renowned concert halls around the world, including Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, and the 92nd Street Y in New York, Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.; the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, the Beijing Concert Hall, Victoria Concert Hall in Singapore, Izumi Hall in Osaka and National Concert Hall in Taipei and the Basilica de San Lorenzo in Florence. In November 2004, Mr. Li made his solo debut at Carnegie Weill Recital Hall to great acclaim.
Mr. Li has received top prizes and awards in numerous competitions, including the Young Concert Artists International Auditions (YCA) in New York, the Young Artists Competition of Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia, the Second China National Cello Competition, as well as the scholarship award from the Matinee Music Club of Philadelphia. In 1992, Mr. Li made his first international appearance and attracted public attention as one of the youngest prizewinners at the Tchaikovsky International Competition for Young Musicians in Moscow, Russia.
Mr. Li has also appeared in many festivals, including the Ravinia Festival in 2001 and 2002, where he collaborated with Miriam Fried. In 2001, he was a participant at the Fifth Kronberg Academy Cello Festival in Germany, where he worked with Truls Mørk and Young-Chang Cho. In the summers of 2005 and 2006, Mr. Li was selected to participate at the Verbier Festival Academy, where he worked with Frans Helmerson, Ralph Kirshbaum, Gary Hoffman, Gabor Takács-Nagy, and Thomas Quasthoff. He was also featured as one of the soloists at the Verbier Festival Academy's Final Concert. As an active chamber musician, Mr. Li has collaborated with renowned artists, such as Emanuel Ax, Carter Brey, Cho-Liang Lin, Paul Katz and Lang Lang.
Mr. Li began his cello studies at the age of five in China. At the age of nine, he was accepted to the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music, where he studied cello with Chen Yuan and Situ Zhi-Wen. After moving to the United States in his early teens, Mr. Li continued his cello studies with Orlando Cole in Philadelphia. In 1998, he enrolled as a full-scholarship student of Fred Sherry and Harvey Shapiro at The Juilliard School, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Music Degree in 2002. In 2005, Mr. Li was accepted into the prestigious Artist Diploma Program at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, where he was awarded the Piatigorsky Scholarship to study cello with David Hardy and Alan Stepansky, and he received both Artist Diploma and Master of Music Degrees in 2008. Mr. Li plays on a 1773 J.B.Guadagnini Cello, generously on loan from the private collection of Mr. and Mrs. Rin Kei-Mei.
