Vivian Li 李穗荣
Born into a family of artists, Chinese-Canadian pianist Dr. Vivian Sui-Rong Li began her career at the age of five with her debut at Guangzhou’s Friendship Opera House and has gone on to steadily build a career as one of China’s most respected young musicians. She currently serves as Associate Professor of Piano at Xinghai Conservatory of Music in Guangzhou, China.
Dr. Li began her studies at the age of four under the tutelage of her father, renowned Chinese pianist Qi Li and supervision of her mother, renowned Chinese classical ballerina Xianping Su. After a period of study at Xinghai Conservatory’s Affiliated Middle School, Dr. Li immigrated to Toronto, Canada where she completed high school and her Artist Diploma from Canada’s Royal Conservatory of Music. Following this, she was accepted with full scholarship to Oberlin Conservatory where she did her undergraduate studies with the esteemed French pianist, Monique Duphil, herself a student of Marguerite Long. Upon graduation, she was awarded Oberlin’s prestigious William R. Abate Outstanding Pianist Award given to the finest pianist of each graduating class. She proceeded to finish her studies with Master and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees at the University of Houston under the guidance of Horacio Gutierrez and Nancy Weems. During her school years, Vivian distinguished herself in numerous competitions including prizes in Canada’s CMC International Stepping Stone Competition, the Grace Welsh International Piano Competition and San Antonio International Competition and in concerts including one performance of Ravel’s G major piano concerto which left the revered pianist Abbey Simon exclaiming, “She played like my friends of the old generation past.”
In 2005, Dr. Li returned to her childhood home of Guangzhou to join the piano faculty of Xinghai Conservatory. Her students routinely go on to study in major conservatories across the world and take top prizes in important competitions nationwide and abroad. In the past few years, Vivian’s students have distinguished themselves in major international competition such as Hamamatsu, Cleveland and Cliburn Junior while taking top prizes at Gina Bachauer, e-Piano Junior, Beijing Chopin, Zhuhai Mozart, Ettlingen, Sendai and Aarhus. Most recently in October 2021, Vivian’s longtime student, the 17 years old Hao Rao became the only Chinese pianist among the finalists of the 18th Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw, gaining international acknowledgement.
Dr. Li maintains an active concert schedule of solo, chamber and concerto performances both in China and abroad. She is also regular guest faculty at Italy’s Maccagno Piano Days Festival and Todi Music Masters Piano Festival, Beijing Central Conservatory International Chamber Music Festival, Oberlin Piano Festival, Germany’s Gegen den Strom Piano Academy and Malta Classic Music Academy.
Jay Sun 孙鹏杰
Born in Taiwan, raised and educated in the United States, and now in his forties, Jay Pengjie Sun is widely recognized as one of the pillars of the Chinese musical community and a specialist in the development of young artists from their very first lessons all the way to the international concert stage. Since joining the faculty of China’s Xinghai Conservatory in Guangzhou two decades ago, he has become a much sought after pianist and pedagogue, with concerts and lectures in every major Chinese city and his students having taken prizes at Cleveland, Hilton Head, E-Piano, Geneva, Weimar-Liszt, Michelangeli, Sendai, Saint Cecilia, Ettlingen, Zhuhai Mozart and distinguishments at Cliburn, Chopin, Busoni, Beethoven, Hamamatsu, Paderewski, Sydney and more – quite a few before the age of eighteen!
Recent concert tours of China have included The Complete Transcendental Etudes of Liszt which Music Weekly described as “a ferocious yet poetically delicate execution of a marvelously stunning feat.” He is also an avid chamber musician and has collaborated with esteemed musicians such as Agata Szymczewska, Atar Arad, Clara Kim, Liu Xiao, Ma Kaiyi, Nikki Chooi, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Tian Bonian, Timothy Chooi, Xin Yi, Xin Xin, Yao Shanshan, Yu Wei, Zhu Mu, Zvi Plesser, as well as frequent piano duo collaborations with his wife Vivian Li.
Sun is also a devoted writer with regular columns in China’s two leading music periodicals: “Piano Artistry” exploring special topics such as systematic training of piano technique, science of tone production, efficient practice methodology, neuroscience of memorization, and teaching psychology; and “Music Weekly” chronicling his life and musings as a pianist and teacher. He has also published a best-selling set of method books “Primo” which to date has guided over 20,000 young students on their musical journeys.
Sun’s principal teachers include Nancy Weems, John Weems and Horacio Gutierrez. He also credits several summers at the Aspen Music Festival with pianist Ann Schein as deeply influential to his development. In his formative years, he held a broad range of interests which led to his graduation from the University of Houston with degrees in music and computer science. He is regular guest faculty at Morningside Music Bridge Festival, Perugia Musicfest, Philadelphia Young Pianists Academy, Todi Music Masters, Tanglewood Institute and currently serves as co-chair of the piano departments at Xinghai Conservatory Middle School and International College in addition to his position on the Morningside Music Bridge Advisory Council.