~ Program ~ Franz Liszt :    Tre Sonetti del Petrarca: No. 123 ( 6–8 min)    Piano Sonata in B minor, S.178 (28–32 min)    ~ intermission ~ Frédéric Chopin :    Impromptu No. 2 in F-sharp major, Op. 36 (5–7 min)    Piano Sonata in B minor, Op. 58 Allegro maestoso Scherzo: Molto vivace Largo Finale: Presto non tanto (25–30 min)     "There is no shortage of reviews praising Li’s artistry and technique: the faceted lucidity of his playing even at breathtaking velocities; the luminous command of tone and color; the tenderness and patience with which melodic lines are sculpted. The program this weekend illuminated once again the scale of Li’s abilities and the limits of conventional praise. Li invites us to consider that music, by asking for a deeper attentiveness, a more abstract form of empathy. The concert bubble exists not as a cryogenic chamber, or a beauty-induced sleep, but as an aesthetic terrarium in which our attention can flourish. Are there enough flowers in the world to reward a night like this?"   review; Veritas Katharina Gassmann, The Boston Musical Intelligencer

event photos: Calvin Hsieh event photos: XiaoPei Xu

George Li 黎卓宇, piano
https://www.georgelipianist.com/about/

A bracing, fearless account…Mr. Li’s playing combined youthful abandon with utter command. 
- The New York Times

Praised by the Washington Post for combining "staggering technical prowess, a sense of command and depth of expression,” pianist George Li possesses an effortless grace, poised authority, and brilliant virtuosity far beyond his years. Since winning the Silver Medal at the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition, Li has rapidly established a major international reputation and performs regularly with some of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, such as Dudamel, Gaffigan, Gergiev, Gimeno, Honeck, Orozco-Estrada, Petrenko, Robertson, Slatkin, Temirkanov, Tilson Thomas, Long Yu, and Xian Zhang.

Li’s 2023-24 season begins with with a recital at the Grand Teton Music Festival, followed by his debut with the Aula Simfonia in Jakarta, Indonesia and conductor Jahja Ling. He embarks on an extensive tour in China including recital and concerto performances in Kunming, Beijing, and Shanghai. In Europe, Li presents recital programs in Viersen, Baden, Elmau, and Stuttgart, and debuts with the Prague Philharmonia in Prague and Ljubljana. US performances include engagements with the Cincinnati and Milwaukee Symphonies, Florida Orchestra, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, and Chicago Sinfonietta, as well as solo recitals across the country from California to Florida. A committed collaborator, George returns to the ECHO series in El Cajon, CA with the Dover Quartet and San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall with violinist Stella Chen.

Recent concerto highlights include performances with the Los Angeles, New York, London, Rotterdam, Oslo, St. Petersburg, and Buffalo Philharmonics; the San Francisco, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dallas, Tokyo, Frankfurt Radio, Sydney, Nashville, New Jersey, New World, North Carolina, Pacific, Valencia, Montreal, and Baltimore Symphonies; as well as the Philharmonia, DSO Berlin, Orchestra National de Lyon, and Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège in Belgium. His eight-concert tour of Germany with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra included performances at the Berlin Philharmonie, Philharmonie am Gasteig Munich, and the Stuttgart Liederhalle. His collaboration with the Mariinsky Orchestra included performances at the Paris Philharmonie, Luxembourg Philharmonie, New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music, Graffenegg Festival, and in various venues throughout Russia.

In recital, Li has previously performed at venues including Carnegie Hall, Davies Hall in San Francisco, Symphony Center in Chicago, the Mariinsky Theatre, Elbphilharmonie, Munich’s Gasteig, the Louvre, Seoul Arts Center, Tokyo’s Asahi Hall and Musashino Hall, NCPA Beijing, Shanghai’s Poly Theater, and Amici della Musica Firenze, as well as appearances at major festivals, including the Edinburgh International Festival, Verbier Festival, Ravinia Festival, Festival de Pâques in Aix-en-Provence, and the Montreux Festival. An active chamber musician, Li has performed alongside Benjamin Beilman, Noah Bendix-Balgley, James Ehnes, Daniel Hope, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, and Kian Soltani.

Li is an exclusive Warner Classics recording artist, with his debut recital album released in October 2017, which was recorded live from the Mariinsky. His second recording for the label features Liszt solo works and Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1, which was recorded live with Vasily Petrenko and the London Philharmonic and released in October 2019. His third album with the label, which will include solo pieces by Schumann, Ravel, and Stravinsky, is scheduled for release in the spring of 2024.

Li gave his first public performance at Boston’s Steinway Hall at the age of ten, and in 2011 performed for President Obama at the White House in an evening honoring Chancellor Angela Merkel. Among Li’s many prizes, he was the recipient of the 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant, a recipient of the 2012 Gilmore Young Artist Award, and the First Prize winner of the 2010 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. George began his piano studies at age 4 with Dorothy Shi, before continuing with Wha Kyung Byun at New England Conservatory beginning at age 12. In 2019, he completed the Harvard/New England Conservatory dual degree program, with a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature and a Master’s degree in Music. He subsequently graduated with an Artist Diploma at New England Conservatory in 2022. When not playing piano, George is an avid reader and photographer, as well as a sports fanatic.

钢琴家：黎卓宇

鋼琴家黎卓宇不但具有超凡的演奏技巧, 他對音樂的深刻洞見更是遠超其年齡, 《華盛頓郵報》盛贊他「技巧令人感到震撼, 演奏具有雷霆般的氣勢和極富深度的音樂解讀」。黎卓宇曾在2015年獲得了柴可夫斯基國際鋼琴比賽的亞軍, 並於2016年獲得了艾弗里·費舍爾音樂職業生涯大獎。

黎卓宇經常受邀與世界著名樂團及指揮大師合作, 近年來的重要合作包括：杜達梅爾與洛杉磯愛樂樂團、邁克爾·提爾森·托馬斯(MTT)與舊金山交響樂團、曼弗雷德·霍內克與漢堡愛樂樂團、賈德里亞·諾賽達與倫敦交響樂團與英國愛特樂樂團,英國愛特米爾卡諾夫樂團與聖樂園愛特樂樂團,以及奧斯陸愛樂樂團、里昂國立管弦樂團、鹿特丹愛樂樂團、馬爾默交響樂團、韋爾比耶節日樂團、柏林德意志交響樂團、西雅圖交響樂團、猶他交響樂團、悉尼交響樂團以及法蘭克福廣播交響樂團等著名樂團。他曾多次與捷傑耶夫以及馬林斯基交響樂團巡迴演出, 在包括巴黎愛樂大廳、盧森堡愛樂音樂廳、紐約布魯克林音樂學院、格拉芬埃格音樂節以及俄羅斯多個城市的音樂廳與劇院登台演奏。 2019年9月, 他與張弦指揮的國家大劇院管弦樂團合作, 先後演出莫札特《第二十三鋼琴協奏曲》及普羅科菲耶夫《第三鋼琴協奏曲》。 2019年, 黎卓宇與俄羅斯國家樂團和米凱爾. 普列涅夫指揮一起在美國多個城市巡演, 演奏拉赫曼尼諾夫第二鋼琴協奏曲。 2020年, 他莫斯科愛樂樂團和指揮尤里.西蒙諾夫在徳國巡迴演出拉赫曼尼諾夫第三鋼琴協奏曲。

黎卓宇近期也在許多世界著名的音樂廳及劇院舉行獨奏音樂會, 其中包括卡內基音樂廳、舊金山戴維斯音樂廳、馬林斯基劇院、慕尼黑嘉斯台音樂廳、巴黎羅浮宮、首爾藝術中心、東京朝日音樂廳、武藏野音樂廳、北京音樂廳、星海音樂廳、Verbier 音樂節, 拉奴維尼亞音樂節、以及《地奴維耶塔音樂節藝術節、樂地樂節、藝術節音樂節, 拉奴.

黎卓宇同樣活躍於室內樂領域之中, 與他合作演奏室內樂的音樂家包括詹姆士·艾涅斯、諾亞·本迪克斯-伯格利、Daniel Hope, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Pinchas Zukerman, 本傑明·貝爾曼、吉安·索爾坦尼、帕布洛·費爾蘭德茲以及丹尼爾·拉維奇等。

黎卓宇與華納簽約, 由該公司獨家發行黎卓宇的唱片, 2017年10月黎卓宇的首張個人唱片將問世, 該唱片是他在馬林斯基劇院獨奏音樂會的現場錄音並獲得Opus Klassik Soloist Recording of the Year (2018)；2019年11月發行的最新專輯中發行的最新專輯。收錄了黎卓宇與瓦西里·彼得連科指揮的倫敦愛樂樂團合作的柴可夫斯基《第一號鋼琴協奏曲》以及李斯特的鋼琴獨奏作品。

黎卓宇十歲時在波士頓史坦威音樂廳登台完成了個人首次公演。 2011年, 黎卓宇受邀在白宮為美國前總統歐巴馬以及德國總理梅克爾演奏。他曾獲刴極具分量的獎項, 其中包括2010年YCA計畫的首獎、2012年吉爾莫青年藝術家大獎等。黎卓宇從四歲開始在楊鏡釧老師的指導下學習鋼琴, 直到12歲。期間, 他得到過殷承宗的指導。從12歲開始, 他在卞和璟老師的指導下學習鋼琴, 獲得了Harvard/NEC joint program 的學士/碩士學位, 並且獲得了新英格蘭音樂學院的藝術家證書。
 

NOTES ON THE PROGRAM
By Dr. Jannie Burdeti

Franz Liszt :
Tre Sonetti del Petrarca: No. 123
( 6–8 min)

The Italian Renaissance poet Francesco Petrarca (1304–1374) composed Il Canzoniere, a collection of 366 poems about his unrequited love for "Laura,” a woman he purportedly saw once outside a church but whom he most likely never spoke to. Through this work, Petrarca explores not only the depth of human emotions, but also themes of desire, religion, and time. Between 1838 and 1839, Franz Liszt chose three of Petrarca’s sonnets for his Tre Sonetti di Petrarca, originally written for voice and piano. At the time of composition, Liszt had recently traveled through Italy and, moreover, had been deeply involved with transcribing Franz Schubert’s songs for solo piano. Perhaps inspired by Schubert, these settings of Petrarca’s sonnets represent Liszt’s first attempts at songwriting, although they are closer to Italian opera in style.

The work went through five major incarnations: the original vocal version composed 1838–39, the piano transcription published in 1846, another vocal version for tenor and piano published the same year, a new piano transcription included in the second volume (Italy) of his Années de pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage), and a final vocal version for baritone and piano, published in 1864.

Sonetto 123 del Petrarca describes Laura as an angel:

I beheld on earth angelic grace,
And heavenly beauties unmatched in this world,
Such that to recall them rejoices and pains me,
And whatever I gaze on seems but dreams, shadows, mists.
And I beheld tears spring from those lovely eyes,
Which many a time have put the sun to shame,
And heard words uttered with such sighs
As to move the mountains and stay the rivers.
Love, wisdom, valour, pity and grief
Made in that plaint a sweeter concert
Than any other to be heard on earth.
And heaven on that harmony was so intent
That not a leaf upon the bough was seen to stir,
Such sweetness had filled the air and the winds.

The piece opens with placid harmonies, establishing the atmosphere for Laura, the "angelic grace” to enter. As it builds, it takes an unexpected turn and modulates into an otherworldly C major. Alfred Brendel writes, "the heavens hold their breath, and no leaf dares to move.” After a brief build up and cadenza, the opening material returns and peaceful sighs bring the work to a contented close.

Franz Liszt :
Piano Sonata in B minor, S.178
(28–32 min)

Considered by many to be his magnum opus, Liszt’s Sonata in B Minor is exceptional in its content, scope, and architectural mastery. Alan Walker declares that it was "arguably one of the greatest keyboard works to come out of the nineteenth century. If Liszt had written nothing else, he would have to be ranked as a master on the strength of this work alone.” Unlike most of his other works, the sonata does not contain programmatic descriptions, and the wide-ranging hermeneutic interpretations offered by musicians seem insignificant when listed one after the other. Be it the Faust legend, a depiction of the Garden of Eden, or an autobiographical sketch, Liszt never in fact revealed his intention programmatically. For instance, he reused the same music from his choral cycle Les Quatre Éléments in Les Préludes, despite differing programmatic contexts. 

Its appellation of "sonata” is significant structurally—the form functions as a sonata on the local level, as well as macrocosmically. Walker writes, "Not only are its four contrasting movements rolled into one, but they are themselves composed against a background of a full-scale sonata scheme—exposition, development, and recapitulation. . . . In short, Liszt has composed ‘a sonata across a sonata.’” Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasie, which Liszt knew intimately as a performer, arranger, and editor, would certainly have influenced the structure of this piece. Like Liszt’s sonata, the Wanderer Fantasie contains four linked movements unified by themes that undergo changes in character—what Liszt would later call "thematic transformation.” The Sonata in B Minor, more than any of his other works, stands as the greatest realization of this technique.

Although the work is built from three primary leitmotifs (themes that recur throughout the piece, representing specific ideas), it displays an astonishing degree of organic unity. Each measure is deeply integrated with the rest of the work. In this sense, the pianist Claudio Arrau once dubbed Liszt’s Sonata in B Minor "Beethoven’s thirty-third piano sonata.”

Despite its structural unity, the sonata covers an amalgam of different styles, and Kenneth Hamilton writes that it ranges "from Germanic chromaticism and thematic development to Italianate lyricism, taking in elements from French grand opera and Hungarian Gipsy music along the way.” In its haunting introduction, one senses immediately the slight flavor of exoticism in the descending scalar passage, first in the Phrygian mode and then repeated as a "gypsy scale.” After a Mephistophelian outburst, the second theme, marked Grandioso, is everything the name implies. Hamilton observes that this portion invokes the French grand opera chorus. The slow section is the work’s emotional center. An acerbic fugue ensues, remarkable in its role as the development of the sonata form. According to manuscripts, the composer had originally intended a loud, virtuosic ending, but later opted for a sublimated, introspective finish.

Fifteen years earlier, in 1839, Robert Schumann had dedicated his Fantasie in C Major, Op. 17, to Franz Liszt. Liszt was a great admirer of Schumann, and it was not until he completed the Sonata in B Minor that he felt he had composed something worthy enough to reciprocate this gesture. Unfortunately, Schumann was never to see the score, as in 1853, when the work was completed, he had already been admitted to the asylum. Clara Schumann, who received it, thoroughly disliked it. Nonetheless, Liszt’s friend Richard Wagner wrote to the composer upon hearing it: "Dearest Franz, you were with me, the sonata is beautiful beyond compare; great, sweet, deep and noble, sublime as you are yourself.” 

Frédéric Chopin :
Impromptu No. 2 in F-sharp major, Op. 36
(5–7 min)

George Sand described Chopin’s compositional process as "spontaneous [and] miraculous. He found ideas without looking for them, without foreseeing them. They came to his piano, sudden, complete, and sublime—[he] sang in his head while he was taking a walk, and he had to hurry and throw himself at the instrument to make himself hear them.” This improvisatory spirit permeates the impromptus, of which Chopin wrote a total of four: the Impromptus in A-flat Major, Op. 29, F-sharp Major, Op. 36, and G-flat Major, Op. 51, as well as the posthumously published Fantasy-Impromptu, Op. 66.

The Impromptu, Op. 36, is in many ways a synthesis of different genres, and it cross-references a number of other works by Chopin. Jim Samson writes, "[It] introduce[s] a discreet counterpoint of styles such as must have characterized many improvisations of the day.” Chopin’s impromptu begins with a pastoral introduction in the left hand, setting the scene in a manner similar to the Barcarolle (in the same key, F-sharp major) or the Berceuse in D-flat Major. After the opening’s nocturne-like melody in the right hand, the music becomes suspended in a luminous chorale before making a surprising harmonic turn to D major. This new section of dotted rhythms is, as Samson calls it, "a march in the deliberately strident manner of contemporary French opera.”

The return of the opening melody is in the surprising and harmonically distant key of F major (rather than the opening F-sharp major), followed by two variations. The final transformation consists of colorful arabesques, or jeu perlé ("pearly playing”) according to Samson, in the upper register of the piano. The chorale theme reappears once more before a majestic finish. In a letter to his friend Julian Fontana, Chopin wrote, "It is perhaps a stupid piece. I can’t tell yet, as I have only just finished it.” While Chopin may have struggled with its organization, upon listening to this piece, one immediately recalls Sand’s description of his playing: filled with spontaneity and the miraculous.

Frédéric Chopin :
Piano Sonata in B minor, Op. 58
Allegro maestoso
Scherzo: Molto vivace
Largo
Finale: Presto non tanto
(25–30 min)

Chopin experienced the full range of life’s vicissitudes in the year 1944: the sorrow of his father’s death, the elation of his sister, Ludwika, visiting him for the first time in fourteen years, his health taking a turn for the worse at his young age of thirty-four (he would die five years later), and the deterioration of his relationship with his partner, Baroness Aurore Dudevant, known by her pen name, George Sand. Amid these events, Chopin worked diligently on his Third Piano Sonata. Despite a negative initial reception by critics, the sonata remains one of the most important pieces of the nineteenth century, with its confluence of styles, rich palette of emotions, and large-scale craftsmanship.

The key of choice of B minor was unprecedented at the time for a large-scale piano sonata, and it likely motivated Liszt’s decision to cast his own famous sonata for piano in the same key a few years later. The first movement of Chopin’s sonata begins with a bold declaration, containing a half-step motive that will inform the entire work. Lyricism abounds in the second subject, with its long, singing melody above a gossamer left hand. The development section demonstrates Chopin’s mastery of contrapuntal techniques, the product of a lifetime of studying Bach’s music. (It has been recorded that the only work that Chopin took with him during his summer retreats was Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier.)

In sharp contrast to the gravitas of the opening movement, the Scherzo is fleeting in character and filled with sparkling finger-work. Charles Rosen makes the argument that the middle trio section not only makes "one melodic line out of many voices” but "project[s] a single line to distant regions of the musical space.” While Chopin emulates Bach in the layered writing, he simultaneously makes the music unmistakably his own.

The third movement is a breathtakingly beautiful nocturne. An arpeggiated middle section spins out a hypnotic meditation where time seemingly stops. After a return of the opening material, with subtle echoes of Chopin’s recently completed Berceuse, the coda concludes the work with a moving synthesis of both sections.

Compared to the abundance of material in the first movement, the finale is almost bare in its use of themes. We hear a rather angular theme combined with dazzling runs. The movement’s inexorable momentum practically gallops into a roof-raising close.

George Li returns to Jordan Hall plays Liszt and Chopin
on Saturday, January 10th, 2026, 8 pm

中華表演藝術基金會第37屆音樂季第2場音樂會，將於 2026 年1月10日週六晚上八時，邀請鋼琴家黎卓宇(George Li)重返新英格蘭音樂學院的喬丹音樂廳 (Jordan Hall), 演奏李斯特和蕭邦的作品。這將是一場不容錯過的音樂會。鋼琴家黎卓宇被《紐約時報》形容為「將青春的奔放與完全的掌控力融為一體」，他在2015 年莫斯科國際柴可夫斯基鋼琴大賽中榮獲銀牌。此外，他還曾獲得多個重要獎項，包括 2016 年艾弗里.費雪職業發展獎(Avery Fisher Career Grant)、2012年吉爾摩青年藝術家獎(Gilmore Young Artist Award)，以及 2010年青年演奏家國際選拔賽(Young Concert Artists International Auditions)一等獎。

《華盛頓郵報》稱讚他「擁有令人震撼的技術實力、極強的掌控力與深邃的表現力」。黎卓宇常與世界頂尖樂團和指揮家合作演出，並曾登上全球多座最負盛名的音樂廳舞臺。作為華納古典音樂(Warner Classics)的簽約藝術家，黎卓宇於 2017年發行了他的首張獨奏專輯，第二張專輯於 2019年發布。第三張專輯《Movements》於 2024年發行，並被《留聲機》(Gramophone)雜誌評選為 2024年 8月「最佳新古典專輯」之一。

黎卓宇於 2019年完成哈佛大學與新英格蘭音樂學院的雙學位項目，獲得英文文學學士與音樂碩士學位。2022年，他又獲得新英格蘭音樂學院的藝術家文憑 (Artistic Diploma)，師從自 12歲起便一直指導他的導師卞和暻(Wha Kyung Byun)。2026 年 1 月 10 日演出曲目包括：

李斯特：
《彼特拉克三首十四行詩》：第 123 首
《B 小調鋼琴奏鳴曲》，S.178

蕭邦：
《升 F 大調即興曲》第 2 首，作品 36
《B 小調鋼琴奏鳴曲》，作品 58

音樂會票價為 $20 (7- 13歲)、$40、$60。提供14歲以上學生免費票，及非學生贈送卷。需事前預訂。6歲以下兒童請勿入場。詳情請在中華表演藝術基金會的官網查詢.  線上售票1月10日下午3時將關閉。現場沒有免費票贈送。門票為10美元，僅限現金支付。