George Li

The Symphony Tacoma held a concert on November 23, 2019 that featured George Li playing Enchanting Rachmaninoff. This was played at the Pantages Theater and the conductor of the performance was Sarah Loannides.

The composer that create the piece George Li played was Rachmaninoff. He was born 1943 in Russia; he played the piano and was a conductor during the romantic era. During a period of his life he fell into depression because there was a negative response to his first symphony. However, he was able to get out of the depression and created his piano concerto no. 2. After creating his piano concert no. 2, he conducted for the Bolshoi Theatre. He ended up moving to the United States because of the Russian Revolution. His full-time job during this time was conducting and playing the piano, he didn’t have time to compose any of his own pieces. As a young child he was taught how to play the piano by a teacher who studied at the music school at Saint Petersburg. Rachmaninoff could remember music notes without any mistakes as a child, so his mother wanted to enhance his skills in music. It is said that the place that was the source of his inspiration was the Satins estate at Lvanovka.

George Li was the pianist that played the piece by Rachmaninoff. He was born 1995 in Boston Massachusetts. In 2015 he came in second place in the International Tchaikovsky Competition and in 2016 he was one of the five recipients of the Avery Fisher Career grant. As a young child, he was taught how to play the piano. When he was older, he studied with a Chinese composer and pianist named Yin Chengzong, then he later took lessons from Kyung Byun and Russell Sherman. George Li went to both Harvard university and the musical school in New England. When he was just nine, he played with the Xiamen Philharmonic, this was his first orchestral debut. In Boston at age 10 he played his solo recital, and this was his starting point on being a soloist, recitalist, and musician. At the age of 11 he got featured by NPR on their new TV series at the time.

After going to this concert, I realized that no matter where you sit even if it is far from the stage the emotions and passion from the performer. I really liked how passionate the performer was when he was playing the piece. It really kept me interested and awake because that day I was tired that day. The music itself was very beautiful. The way that George Li played it was so captivating. The melodies and harmony with the orchestra that played with him during his concert was so well done. The orchestra felt so magical and kind of intense because so many people were so focused on the music. The music itself was also very intense with the dramatic style that the performer was playing in. The only thing I didn’t enjoy that much was how hot the concert room was. I have never been in such a warm situation before when going to orchestra concerts. Though the concert hall that the performance was being held at was very beautiful the art and detailing that put into that room was amazing. The one thing I didn’t like about the lay out was how the railing on the higher seats blocked the performer when he was playing the piece. I had to move around a lot to see how he was playing the piece because he was very active when he was performing. The people who attended the concert were very professional in attitude and were very nice. They were people who had musical backgrounds and were performers themselves, I overhear a lot of their conversations talking about what they were studying.

This photo was what I could see from my point of view when the concert had the break.