Si-Yan Darren Li

Cellist Si-Yan Darren Li made his professional debut at the age of nine and has since

established an international career as a recitalist, chamber musician, and pedagogue. He has

performed in many of the world’s leading concert venues, including Carnegie Hall’s Stern

Auditorium, Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, the 92nd Street Y, the Kennedy

Center, Izumi Hall in Osaka, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and the National Concert Hall in Taipei.

Mr. Li has also appeared at renowned music festivals such as the Ravinia Festival, Verbier

Festival, Kronberg Academy Cello Festival, and Sun Valley Music Festival.

A prizewinner in numerous prestigious competitions, including the Tchaikovsky International

Competition in Moscow and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York,

Mr. Li is also a recipient of the American Masterpieces Grant from the National Endowment for

the Arts.

An avid chamber musician, he has collaborated with distinguished artists including Emanuel Ax,

Leon Fleisher, Miriam Fried, Lang Lang, Thomas Quasthoff, and members of the Emerson,

Juilliard, Takács, Cleveland, Orion, Casals, and Ébène quartets. His acclaimed recording of the

Bartók string quartets with the Euclid Quartet received high praise from Gramophone magazine

and American Record Guide.

Mr. Li joined the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) in 2017, where he serves as

Director of Chamber Music and a member of the cello faculty. His students have won top prizes

in prestigious international and national competitions, including Banff, Bordeaux, Melbourne,

and Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competitions, as well as Fischoff, Coltman, and

Plowman Chamber Music Competitions. They have also gone on to win positions in leading

American orchestras. Mr. Li additionally serves as a panelist for the New World Symphony

auditions.

Mr. Li holds a Bachelor of Music degree from The Juilliard School and both a Master of Music

and Artist Diploma from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. He also received

a fellowship from the New World Symphony. His principal teachers include Orlando Cole, Fred

Sherry, Harvey Shapiro, Alan Stepansky, and David Hardy, and his other mentors include Frans

Helmerson, Gary Hoffman, Pamela Frank, and Michael Tilson Thomas. Mr. Li performs on a

1773 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini cello, generously on loan from the private collection of Mr.

and Mrs. Rin Kei-Mei.