Performer Biography

Chengzi Li

A Young Steinway Artist, the Chinese pianist Hechengzi Li (Chengzi), was featured on the cover of the World of Music magazine and described as a “rising star, [a] genuine and passionate storyteller through music.”

                Beginning her piano studies at the age of two, Chengzi was the grand prize winner of the toddler-group of Liu Shikun International Piano Competition at the age of three. Chengzi was introduced as a music prodigy on the cover of Eastern Airline Magazine when she was only five years old. She released her first solo album performing the works of Scriabin, Stravinsky, and Chopin, released by STARSING Media Group in 2019.

                While receiving top reviews from news reports such as Xi’an Music Weekly, Chengzi was presented on headline features on multiple media websites such as Sohu and Tencent News. Having toured in China performing solo recitals and being featured as a soloist with the Xi’an Symphony Orchestra, Chengzi became the youngest signed solo artist to ShaanXi Symphony Orchestra in 2021.

                Chengzi has appeared on concert stages around the globe including debuts in Holland, Salzburg, the United States, and China. Her performances have garnered praise from media outlets and have been presented on headline features on multiple websites such as Teasant News, Xi’an Worldy Cover, Beijing Music Weekly, Artdaily, Shanxi Music World, Xian Evening News, Xian News Network, Tencent News, SOHU, Westerm Net, and more. In 2020, Chengzi was invited to give a series of masterclasses and lectures online with numerous media groups in China. She also published her paper on Scriabin in The Music Times Magazine.

                Also interested in contemporary music, Chengzi premiered her own composition, Inside an Unreal Forest, in New York City’s Merkin Hall in 2015 and frequently collaborated and performed with AXIOM and The Focus Festival at The Juilliard School.

                Chengzi is an artist of The Artemisia Foundation, a foundation “dedicated to presenting extraordinarily gifted pianists in major concert venues”, as well as a recipient of the Gucci Foundation scholarship. In 2017, Chengzi was invited to be the image ambassador of the International Gaibairi Piano Competition. In 2015, she was accepted to Juilliard’s college division at the age of 16, studying with Sergei Babayan, and having previously studied in the Pre-College division at Juilliard with Matti Raekallio and Hung-kuan Chen. In 2021, Chengzi was admitted with full scholarship to the Cleveland Institute of Music at the age of 22 and is now pursuing the Artist Diploma degree under the guidance of Sergei Babayan.