Beloved Music, Heard Anew: Ying Li Brings Firebird, Bach’s Chaconne, and Liszt’s Opera Showpieces to a Single Piano at Portland Piano International December 6
The Chinese-American pianist, winner of the 2021 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, brings music the piano has borrowed from the violin, the ballet, and the opera house to Lincoln Performance Hall in “telling such noble tales.”
PORTLAND, OR — Stravinsky’s Firebird. Bach’s Chaconne in Ferruccio Busoni’s monumental transcription. Liszt’s paraphrases on Verdi’s Rigoletto and Bellini’s Norma. On Sunday, December 6 at 4:00 PM, Chinese-American pianist Ying Li brings these familiar works to Lincoln Performance Hall for Portland Piano International (PPI). Her program, “telling such noble tales,” continues PPI’s 49th season, “Seven Sundays of Discovery,” curated by Guest Artistic Curator Boris Giltburg, with music that first lived on other stages: the solo violin, the ballet, and the opera house.
Portland audiences may remember Li from her last-minute appearance with the Oregon Symphony, when she stepped in for Grieg’s Piano Concerto under David Danzmayr. Winner of the 2021 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions and a top prize winner at the inaugural Antonio Mormone International Prize, she has appeared with The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Stuttgart Philharmonic, and made her New York recital debut at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall. Ionarts has written that in her playing, “runs, passage work, and trills sparkle, with not a note out of place.”
The afternoon opens with Busoni’s transcription of the Chaconne in D Minor from Bach’s Partita No. 2 for solo violin. Guido Agosti’s transcription of Stravinsky’s Firebird sets a full ballet orchestra loose on a single keyboard, and two of Liszt’s most theatrical opera fantasies, the concert paraphrase on Rigoletto and the Réminiscences de Norma, close the program. Between them are two discoveries. Amy Beach’s Four Sketches, op. 15 (“In Autumn,” “Phantoms,” “Dreaming,” and “Fireflies”) offer an American Romantic’s miniature tales. Qigang Chen’s Instants d’un opéra de Pékin draws a direct line to Li’s own story: Chen, Olivier Messiaen’s last private student, trained at Beijing’s Central Conservatory, where Li began her studies before moving to Philadelphia at fourteen.
It is a program of music many listeners already know by heart, now in the hands of a pianist Portland has met before, this time in her own recital.
Beyond the Concert Hall
Every recital opens with a free Pre-Concert Conversation 45 minutes beforehand, at 3:15 PM, hosted by executive director Bill Crane and resident musicologist Amelia de Vaal. The recital is sponsored by Carole Alexander.
Ying Li, Program
Johann Sebastian Bach, arr. Ferruccio Busoni — Chaconne in D Minor, from Partita No. 2 for Solo Violin, BWV 1004
Amy Beach — Four Sketches, Op. 15
Igor Stravinsky, arr. Guido Agosti — L’Oiseau de feu (The Firebird)
Qigang Chen — Instants d’un opéra de Pékin
Franz Liszt — Grande paraphrase de concert on Verdi’s Rigoletto
Franz Liszt — Réminiscences de Norma (Bellini)
Tickets and Information
Tickets & Information: portlandpiano.org/ying-li or 503.228.1388. Student and Arts for All tickets are available at the door, subject to availability.
Venue: Lincoln Performance Hall, Portland State University, Portland, OR
Date & Time: Sunday, December 6, 2026 · 4:00 PM
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About Ying Li
Chinese-American pianist Ying Li is the winner of the 2021 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions and a top prize winner at the inaugural Antonio Mormone International Prize, the Sarasota Artist Series Piano Competition, and the International Liszt Piano Competition for Young Pianists. She has appeared as soloist with The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Kansas City Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Stuttgart Philharmonic, and the Oregon Symphony, and in recital at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, and the Konzerthaus Berlin. A devoted chamber musician, she has performed at the Verbier Festival Academy, Ravinia’s Steans Institute, and the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival. Li began piano at five in China, studied at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, and moved to Philadelphia at fourteen to attend the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Jonathan Biss and Seymour Lipkin. She went on to Master of Music and Artist Diploma studies at The Juilliard School with Robert McDonald.
About Portland Piano International
Portland Piano International has presented more than 260 pianists in recital and through outreach activities. Some of the greatest pianists in the world of music have played for Portland audiences because of this organization. While pianists have many opportunities to play the concerto repertoire, this is one of only a handful of recital series that remains devoted to the solo piano recital. Portland Piano International is a vital part of Portland’s quality cultural life and has consistently garnered praise from both the local and national media, heralded a “consistently brilliant Piano Recital Series” (Willamette Week) and “one of this city’s musical treasures” (The Oregonian).
Media Contact
Jonathan Eifert · 347.741.1913 · jonathan.eifert@goldsoundmedia.com
High-resolution photos available upon request.