The Lisa Smith Wengler Center For The Arts At Pepperdine University Presents Pianist Ying Li

Twenty-four-year-old Chinese pianist Ying Li will make her Malibu recital debut Sunday, January 29, 2023, at 2 p.m. at Raitt Recital Hall on the campus of Pepperdine University.

Tickets, starting at $28 for adults and $10 for full-time Pepperdine students, are available now by calling (310) 506-4522 or visiting arts.pepperdine.edu.

Ying Li is an avid chamber musician who 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 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 Li is the First Prize winner of the 2021 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, as well as the 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.

The repertoire for the January 29 recital includes Franz Joseph Haydn's Piano Sonata in C Major, Robert Schumann's Fantasy in C Major, Béla Bartók's Sonata for Piano, Qigang Chen's Instants d'un opera de Pekin, and Igor Stravinsky's L'oiseau de feu (arr. Agosti).

"The theatrical element of this program stimulates my curiosity to the extreme. The sensational fusion of East and West in QiGang Chen's homage to Peking opera brings me back to childhood theaters, while Stravinsky's Firebird Suite and Haydn's sonata are full of narrative intensities. For the heart of my debut program, I chose to feature Robert Schumann's Fantasie, the most heartfelt and impassioned love story I can imagine," said Ying Li.

Tickets may be purchased by calling the Center for the Arts Box Office at (310) 506-4522 from noon to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Friday, and two hours prior to curtain time. Tickets to all events are also available online at: arts.pepperdine.edu/tickets/

The Center for the Arts is located on the Pepperdine University campus at 24255 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, CA. Parking is available during performances next to Smothers Theatre for a fee and in the Theme Tower lot with a shuttle service at no charge. All programs and artists are subject to change.

For more information about this performance and other Center for the Arts performances and exhibitions, visit arts.pepperdine.edu. For information about current health and safety protocols at the Center for the Arts, visit: arts.pepperdine.edu/visit/

The Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts at Pepperdine University provides high-quality activities for over 50,000 people from over 1,000 zip codes annually through performances, rehearsals, museum exhibitions, and master classes. Located on Pepperdine's breathtaking Malibu campus overlooking the Pacific, the center serves as a hub for the arts, uniquely linking professional guest artists with Pepperdine students as well as patrons from surrounding Southern California communities. Facilities include the 450-seat Smothers Theatre, the 118-seat Raitt Recital Hall, the "black box" Helen E. Lindhurst Theatre, and the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art.

The Recital Series at Pepperdine University has delighted audiences with new and emerging classical musicians since 1993. With intimate Sunday afternoon performances in Raitt Recital Hall, the series is known nationally for the high quality of its performances, the stunning location, the beautiful and acoustically superior venues, and the engagement and loyalty of its audience. Many of the featured artists have gone on to significant critical and professional acclaim, including cellist Johannes Moser, pianist Haochen Zhang, soprano Jessica Rivera, and cellist Alisa Weilerstein. The Recital Series is made possible by the generous support of funders to the Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts.

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