Biography
At 18 years old, Canadian pianist Brian Li has already established an international presence. A first year undergraduate at Northwestern University, having received a Bienen music merit scholarship, Brian has won many international awards and performed with orchestras from Italy to the USA. He currently studies with Dr. James Giles, and has worked with Dr. Sasha Starcevich, Ms. Donna Fishwick and Dr. Wayne Weng in the past.
Brian made his international debut in 2018, performing in Carnegie Hall at the age of 10. The same year, Brian made his orchestral debut in Perugia, Italy, where he performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Virtuosi Brunensis Orchestra. The following years, Brian was invited to perform Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Florence Conservatory Orchestra in Perugia, Italy; Tchaikovsky’s first piano concerto with Philharmonia Northwest in Seattle, USA; and Saint Säens’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with West Coast Symphony in Vancouver, Canada, in October of 2023. He is currently the pianist in the Northwestern University Chamber Orchestra.
Brian’s international and national accolades are diverse and numerous: in 2018, Brian was the first prize and scholarship winner of the Crescendo International Competition and received the overall highest mark prize of Pacific International Youth Piano Competition; in 2019, Brian placed first in the Canadian Music Competition; in 2021, he recieved the Gold Medal in the Vancouver International Music Competition, recieved the Overall and Gold Prize of the Steinway Piano Competition Canada, and also recieved the First Grand Prize of Chicago International Music Competition; in 2022, he placed second at the Kaufman Music Center International Youth Piano Competition; in 2023, Brian was an alternate competitor for the Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition. That year, he was one of two dozen pianists selected through international screening to participate in the Cleveland International Piano Competition and Institute for Young Artists, as well as invited as one of eight participants to the 2023 Gina Bachauer International Piano Festival. In 2025, Brian was a finalist at the USASU International Piano Competitions, selected by a jury including such pianists as Martha Argerich.
Locally, he performed at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, the Vancouver Convention Centre, Tom Lee Music Concert Hall, Gateway Theatre, and Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Playhouse. Internationally, some of his performance venues include Basilica di San Pietro and Sala dei Notari in Perugia, Italy; Seattle’s Town Hall; Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center; and Carnegie Hall in New York.
In masterclasses, Brian has worked with celebrated artists including Jerome Lowenthal, Boris Slutsky, Kevin Kenner, Alexander Braginsky, Michelle Cann, Alexander Korsantia, Kyu Yeon Kim, Yakov Kasman, Krzysztof Jablonski, Wojciech Świtała, Zbigniew Raubo, David Fung, Spencer Myer, Douglas Humpherys, Marina Lomazov, Joseph Rackers, Ursula Oppens, Arthur Greene, John Perry, Dmitri Vorobiev, Thomas Sauer, Roberto Plano, and more.
As a composer, Brian’s style spans from Baroque choral works, to 80s city pop, to experimentalism. He combines music technology in his works through the use of Csound programming, with projects involving piano and live electronics.
Not only does Brian excel musically, but he also excels academically and strives to invigorate his community. He is the founder and president of the Performing for A Difference Association (PFAD), which provides regular performance opportunities to aspiring musicians who wish to practice their performance skills. As president of PFAD since 2021, Brian organizes and hosts concerts at senior homes, emergency shelters, and a variety of other venues to provide music to those who appreciate music no less than anyone else but can access it the least. in partnership with the Canadian Cancer Society and four other national/international organizations, Brian has helped raise over 58,000 CAD for cancer research, homeless shelter resources, and music education through fundraisers. Brian has also founded the Greater Vancouver chapter of the Back to BACH Project in 2023 to promote a love for the fine arts in the next generation. Now, as the Director of Global Operations, he oversees and aids several Regional Directors with running their chapters of the organization, as well as manages global social media activities.
In 2025, Brian initiated a performance and presentation series for children with autism and disabilities, with the aim of providing an accessible source of fine arts education for all children. His concerts and events have educated and inspired children with music.
As an academic researcher, his ethnomusicological research has been published in the International Journal of High School Research in 2024. He is currently working on a paper exploring the impact of digitalization on Miao ethnic music, as well as assisting Cambridge research fellow Dr. Audrey Wozniak with her research on Turkish choirs. When Brian is not playing the piano, he enjoys reading and watching science fiction and high fantasy. He loves listening to music, from 70s Japanese funk to psychedelic rock, and is interested in jazz improvisation.