Hello, I`mIsabella Li Lao
Isabella LiLao is an active well known young violin soloist. She has performed all over four continents and more than 50 countries and cities. Donald Weilerstein, praised Lao’s performance as “delicately touching, full of imagination and warmth of sunlight.” Isabella Li Lao made her Carneige Hall debut on July 7, 2023.
She is currently a violin faculty member of China Central Conservatory of Music. Ever since she performed a violin solo at the Great Hall of the People in China at the age of nine, debuted with the Beijing Symphony Orchestra as a soloist at age of thirteen, playing Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor, held her first violin concerto concert, and successfully performed Brahms and Mendelssohn concertos at sixteen, Ms. Lao has been a rising star in her native country. Today, she is recognized as one of the great violinists of her generation, a truly exciting, passionate, and versatile artist in her generation. She has appeared as a soloist with national and international leading orchestras, including the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, the New York Hudson Valley Symphony Orchestra, the Beijing Symphony Orchestra, China Union Symphony Orchestra, the Starling Artaria Ensemble, and many others. She has given concerts in famous concert halls in more than fifty cities, such as Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Grand Hall, Headquarters of The United Nations in New York, Jordan Hall in Boston, Forbidden City Concert Hall, Ntional Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing, and more.
Ms. Lao has collaborated with conductors Zubin Mehta, Benjamin Zander, Hugh Wolff, Itzhak Perlman, Jorge Ledezma Bradley, Xieyang Chen, Xiaoying Zheng, Mark Gibson, and others.
Ms. Lao was invited to perform at the royal residence, Windsor Castle, in the UK. Ms. Lao was also invited by the former Queen of Spain, Her Majesty Sophia, to perform under Maestro Zubin Mehta in Madrid. She has worked with violin maestros such as Gidon Kremer, Ruggiero Ricci, Itzhak Perlman, Maxim Vengerov. She has appeared in Chinese, American, Russian, Ukrainian, and British national radio programs and newspapers. In 2019 she was invited to perform at the United Nations Headquarters in New York and to attend the 8th St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum in the same year. In 2020 and 2021, she was invited to participate in public performances at APEC, and in 2022, the New Year Concert of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, which was broadcasted by CCTV1, CCTV3, and CCTV 13 and aired online during prime time.
In addition to her concerto performances and projects, Ms. Lao is a devoted teacher who is enthusiastic about teaching. Ms.Lao is currently a violin faculty member in the Central Conservatory of Music in China. She has translated Professor Zakhar Bron’s advanced violin literature The Art of Etudes into Chinese along with a violin study book filled with her detailed explanations. She constantly teaches in master classes in China, the United States, and Europe, including: New England Conservatory of Music Prep.School in Boston; Bucknell University in PA; Summer school of Reina Sofia’s Conservatory of Music in Spain, Music school at Renmin University and others.
Ms. Lao was born in China. At the age of ten, she attended the Central Conservatory of Music’s Primary School and became Professor Yaoji Lin’s youngest student. She was under Professor Lin’s guidance through her secondary education and was ranked first in the Central Conservatory of Music’s High School. After graduation, she attended Cincinnati University Musical School under Prof. Sassmannshaus with a full scholarship. In her freshman year, she won First Place in the Concerto Competition and became Concert Master of the University of Cincinnati Orchestra. Later, she received a full scholarship from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where she started her six-year study under Professor Donald Weilerstein’s guidance. After receiving her BS and MS degree from New England Conservatory, Ms. Lao received a full scholarship from Reina Sofia Conservatory in Madrid, Spain, where she received “Performance Diploma” under Professor Zakhar Bron.
Ms. Lao has won several competitions, including First Place in the Hudson Valley International String Competition in 2009, First Place in the China Central Conservatory Violin Competition, and the Special Prize for “Excellent Young Contestant” at the China (Qingdao) International Violin Competition in 2005. She also won Third Prize in China’s National Violin Art Competition.
Ms. Lao has been an active soloist on stage who has successfully performed a wide range of concertos as a soloist, including compositions by Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Schumann, Vivaldi, Prokofiev, Dvorak, and so on, with performances given great acclaim all across China, the United States, and Europe. She has joined ten world renowned young violinists to successfully perform Mendelssohn’s E-minor violin concerto at the 19th Shanghai International Art Festival. Ms. Li also has devoted herself to promoting original Chinese music to the world. During her performance and teaching residency at Bucknell University in the USA, she performed in a special concert with famous Chinese composers Huanzhi Li, Dun Tan, and Yuankai Bao’s symphonic works. Her performances included Chinese violin concerto Butterfly Lover’s Concerto, as well as part of Yuankai Bao’s Chinese Sights and Sounds 24 Pieces Violin Concerto world premier as a soloist. In the same time, Ms. Li brings more and more rarely performed concerto into audience attention, such as: Schumann Violin Concert, Machavariani Violin Concerto and so on.
