Prize-Winning Pianist George Li to Play Finney Chapel March 1

George Li, the remarkable young pianist who won first prize at Oberlin’s inaugural Cooper International Competition in 2010, returns to campus Saturday, March 1, as part of the 2013-14 Artist Recital Series. Now 18, Li will perform at 8 p.m. in Oberlin’s Finney Chapel (90 N. Professor St.).

Praised by the Washington Post for combining “staggering technical prowess, a sense of command and depth of expression,” Li possesses brilliant virtuosity and effortless grace far beyond his years. In 2012 alone, he won the Gilmore Young Artist Award and received the Tabor Foundation Piano Award at the Verbier Academy. He has performed solo and with orchestra in top venues throughout the world, including Merkin Concert Hall and Kennedy Center. In 2011, Li performed for President Obama and the chancellor of Germany at the White House.

Li’s Oberlin appearance will feature a balanced range of works spanning the Classical period through the early 20th century, including Beethoven's mystical, final piano sonata; Schoenberg's piano pieces written as a memorial to Gustav Mahler; Rachmaninoff's emotion-filled Variations on a theme of Corelli; and Ravel's darkly dramatic La Valse.

Tickets to George Li are $42 ($35 for Oberlin alumni, staff, and seniors; and $13 for students); all tickets are $3 more at the door. Tickets for George Li and other Artist Recital Series concerts can be purchased online, by calling 800-371-0178, or by visiting Oberlin’s Central Ticket Service at Hall Auditorium weekdays from noon-5 p.m.

Complete information on the Artist Recital Series and other 2013-14 programming at Oberlin can be found using Oberlin's online Arts Guide.