Ying Li/Shannon Lee

Chinese pianist Ying Li is the First Prize winner of the 2021 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, as well as recipient of The Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival Prize and the Tri-I Noon Recitals Prize. She has received top awards in numerous national and international competitions including the inaugural Antonio Mormone International Prize, Sarasota Artist Series Piano Competition, Brevard Music Festival, International Liszt Piano Competition for Young Pianists, and was a finalist at Concours musical international de Montréal.

Ying has performed with many leading orchestras such as The Philadelphia Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Brevard Music Festival Orchestra, L’Accademia Orchestra del La Scala, and the NWD-Philharmoniker, and with conductors such as Lina Gonzalez-Granados, Xian Zhang, Eric Jacobsen, and Jonathon Heyward.

Ying recently made her New York City recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall and her Washington, DC debut at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, with additional US recitals this season at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Evergreen Museum & Library in Baltimore, Sunday Musicale in New Jersey, Southeastern Piano Festival, and the Honest Brook Music Festival.

Upcoming and recent recitals also include Sala Verdi in Milan, Hammerklavier International Piano Festival in Barcelona, Musica Insieme Bologna, Teatro Alighieri in Ravenna, Fazioli Pianoforti in Sacile, and the C. Bechstein Series at the Konzerthaus in Berlin. Ying was also featured on WQXR’s “Eine-kleine Birthday-musik,” a free, all-Mozart live streamed concert from The Greene Space in New York City, to celebrate Mozart’s 266th birthday.

As an avid chamber musician, Ying has appeared at prestigious festivals around the world including the Verbier Festival Academy, ClassicheFORME International Chamber Music festival in Lecce, Ravinia’s Steans Institute, La Jolla Music Society, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Artists Series Concerts in Sarasota, and the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival.

Ying began piano lessons at age five in China, and was a student at the Elementary School division of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, then she moved to Philadelphia in 2012, at age fourteen, to study at the Curtis Institute of Music with Jonathan Biss and Seymour Lipkin. After receiving the Bachelor of Music degree at Curtis Institute in 2019, she received her Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School in New York with Robert McDonald, and continues her studies with McDonald at the Juilliard School’s Artist Diploma Program.

“remarkable fire, impeccable intonation, and big, vibrant tone” – Gramophone

Violinist Shannon Lee has won prizes in several international competitions, such as top prize and audience award at the Sendai Competition in Japan, 4th prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium, co-winner in the 2020 Shanghai Isaac Stern Competition, 2nd place at the Naumburg Competition in New York City, and Laureate/Ysaÿe Sonata prize at the Indianapolis Competition. Shannon also received generous support from the Sylva Gelber Foundation in Canada through their Award for career development. She has appeared as soloist with the Tokyo Symphony, Antwerp Symphony, Belgian National Orchestra, and New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. Her festival appearances as a chamber musician include Creative Dialogue France, Krzyżowa-Music, Music@Menlo, Music From Angel Fire, and Heifetz International Music Institute, where she was Artist-in-Residence and teaching assistant for Jan Mark Sloman. In 2016-17 she was a founding member of Bicycle String Trio, performing at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and Avaloch Farm Music Institute.

Born in Canada, Shannon began playing the violin at age four in Plano, Texas, with Ann Grosshans and Paul Landefeld. In the following ten years she studied with Jan Mark Sloman, then Principal Associate Concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and director of The Institute for Strings. She made her solo debut at the age of twelve with the Dallas Symphony, and two years later performed in Germany with Maestro Christof Perick and the Nuremberg Philharmonic. In 2008 she made her debut recording for Telarc International, “Introducing Shannon Lee,” featuring 19th and 20th century works with pianist Pamela Mia Paul.

Shannon is currently based in the Netherlands as the artist certificate candidate at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Vera Beths. Previously she was in the joint studio of Jaime Laredo and Jan Sloman at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she was the recipient of the inaugural Mary Hamlin Memorial Presidential Scholarship as well as the Starling Foundation Scholarship. She was an Artist-in-Residence at Judson Manor from 2020-22, curating and performing monthly recitals for their retired residents. In Philadelphia, she received a diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music as a student of Ida Kavafian and Arnold Steinhardt, and completed a fellowship year of service teaching for Cramp Elementary School and the All-City Orchestra. Shannon completed her Bachelor’s degree in computer science from Columbia University while taking violin lessons with David Nadien, formerly concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic with Leonard Bernstein.