I'm afraid that I cannot reply to all messages that are sent to me because I get so many and I am so busy. Please bear this in mind if you wish to send me a message. Thank you.
Yundi Li was born October 7th 1982 in Chongquing in central China. As with many musicians, his penchant for music became apparent in early childhood. One day, when he was three years old, he was so fascinated by a man playing an accordion in a shopping mall that he refused to leave the mall.
At the age of four, he started learning to play the accordion. When he was seven, he asked his parents to let him have piano lessons. At the age of twelve, Li gave the best performance in a fiercely competitive selection process and thus earned himself a place at the top music school in Sichuan province.
About a year later, when Li's teacher decided to take up a post at the School of Arts in Shenzhen, southern China, Li's family moved in order to allow the young prodigy to continue his studies in Shenzhen. The tuition at this school was expensive, and Li's mother had already given up her job in order to supervise the boy's education. However, Li had won numerous scholarships and awards which enabled him to afford the fees.
At thirteen, Li won the Stravinsky Competition in the United States. He went on to take First Prize at the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition in the United States and Third Prize at the Franz Liszt Piano Competition in the Netherlands, as well as being a major winner in the Second China International Piano Competition in Beijing.
At just eighteen, Yundi Li won the first prize at the Frederic Chopin Competition held in Warsaw in October 2000.
He has recently announced that he will never compete again. He is currently on the roster of Deutsche Grammophon (DG). His first recording for DG was an all-Chopin recital album, released in early 2002. Meanwhile, he continues his musical studies in Germany.
A story tells that two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face.
The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand: TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE.
They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him.
After he recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone: TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE.
The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, "After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you write on a stone, why?"
The other friend replied "When someone hurts us we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it."
LEARN TO WRITE YOUR HURTS IN THE SAND AND TO CARVE YOUR BENEFITS IN STONE.
thought we'd just let you know you can now download our tracks for free from our myspace page! yes you can take us anywhere you want on your mp3 player! be quick to get these tunes tho, coz we'll be putting some new ones up soon!
Hi to all my MySpace friends around the world! I don't usually use Myspace to promote my own beliefs, but I was recently asked to sign a very important online petition asking international bodies like the WTO and IMF to work to rid the world of child labour. There are so many children suffering in this world so that we can enjoy cheap luxuries and an easy life. There is not much we can do as individuals, but this we CAN do. It's easy...one click and you're there, one more click and you've made a difference! I spent the first half of my life in Hong Kong (I'm 13 now) and I've seen little kids in Southern China exploited and vulnerable. I always remember that but for an accident of birth, I could have been one of those children. I'm not asking you to run a marathon or anything...just move your mouse here: http://www.icftu.org/petition.asp?Name=childlabour - and do the right thing. Thank you and have a great summer! Aysha.
Hi Yundi,
I heard a recording of you on WQXR (NYC) the other day. I don't recall the piece at the moment, but I sure remember your playing -- fantastic!!! Keep up the great playing!
I just stopped by to say hi and I hope you had a good week. Have a fantastic weekend; wishing you the very best. You are awesome; thanks for your friendship!
Be well!
Tim
