March 22, 2014
Family CONCERT
Featuring
Chuanyun Li, Violinist
Program
Glinka Overture to Ruslan and Ludmilla
Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D Major, Op.35
Morning at Miaoling Mountain
Return to 2013-14 Season
Maestra Lin and the orchestra take a bow
Chuanyun Li creates a beautiful melody in Tchaikovsky
Li strikes his final note
Violinist by day, kung fu master by night?
Chuanyun Li with Bravura Philharmonic board members
From left: Dr. Robert Kaita, Molly Sung, Elizabeth von Autenried, Maestra Chiu-Tze Lin, Dr. Grace Hao, Chuanyun Li, Wen Zhang, Ingrid Tang, Dr. Donna Muzzicato, and Dr. Chiu-Ling Lin
“If China wants to have a great violinist, they have one,” concluded the violin maestro Ruggiero Ricci after listening to Chuanyun Li in 2004. Hailed by The Daily Camera as “a massive talent with astonishing dynamic and expressive range,” Chuanyun Li is one of the foremost violinists of his generation from China and internationally. Li studied with Professor Yaoji Lin from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing for 10 years before studying at Juilliard with full scholarship under Dorothy DeLay and Itzhak Perlman. He has won numerous prizes, including 1st Prize in the 5th Wieniawski International Youth Violin Competition at age 11 by unanimous vote of all 20 jurors, and the Nakamichi Violin Concerto Competition in Aspen in 1998.
Li tours frequently and extensively in Asia, West Europe, North America, and Australia, appearing as soloist with conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Neemi Jarvi, Edo de Waart, Lan Shui, and Vladimir Ashkenazy. Chuanyun Li performed the solo violin part for the original soundtrack of Chen Kaige’s film Together (2002), noted by the Washington Post for “his ethereal playing … which has given the movie such a magnificent aural backdrop.” In 2004, Li appeared in a Radio Television Hong Kong documentary series of outstanding young Chinese musicians along with Lang Lang, Yundi Li, Jian Wang, and others.
The New York Times referred to him as “a first-rate violinist” and remarked that “[having] the chance to hear Mr Li’s violin playing made the evening all worthwhile.” The Seattle Times observed that Li “shares Perlman’s amazing dexterity in untangling virtuoso pieces” and that “despite his technical accuracy and incredible speed, Li plays with great abandon, and where appropriate, a lot of soul.” In 2008, Chuan-yun Li was awarded the Chinese Gold Record Award, and in 2009, won the Best Artist (2008 Music) Award of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council. Li has several CDs and DVDs to his credit, including Paganini’s complete 24 Caprices at the age of 15, Prophetic Bird, Salut d’Amour, and The Soul of Violin with pianist Robert Koenig on CD and La Ronde Des Lutins and Stradivari Campaign and The King of the Violin on DVD.
