×

Xinyan Li

Born in Qiqihar, China, Dr. Xinyan Li received her doctoral degree in composition at University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at China Conservatory of Music in composition and music theory.

Dr. Li’s music works have been featured at Aspen Music Festival, Carnegie Hall, National Opera Center, Composers Now Festival, the 89th Music Mountain Festival, the 11th Beijing International Chamber Music Festival, the 13th Thailand International Composition Festival, the 19th Nordic International Bassoon Symposium, the 44th and 45th IDRS Annual Conference, Seal Bay Festival, and China’s National Center for the Performing Arts. She was invited as a visiting composer by Aspen Music Festival in 2007 and 2015; her interview and six works have been broadcasted by Sweden’s national radio—Sveriges Radio in 2011; her wind quintet Mo Suo’s Burial Ceremony was released by Albany Records in 2019, performed by Pan Pacific Ensemble; her music composed for Laozi’s Dao De Jing, translated by Ken Liu, has been released by Audible in 2022; her three chamber works were published by TrevCo Music Publishing. Her music has been performed by Omaha Symphony, musicians of Eighth Blackbird, PRISM Quartet, American Composers Orchestra, The Orchestra Now, Bergen Woodwind Quintet, Cassatt String Quartet, Earplay, Quintet of the Americas, Donald Sinta Quartet, Music From China, as well as principal musicians of Philadelphia, Baltimore, Detroit, St. Louis, Montreal, Bergen Orchestras and Danish Chamber Orchestra. Her awards include ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, American Composers Orchestra New Music Readings, Tsang-Houei Hsu International Music Composition Award, IDRS Conference 2016 Schwob Prize in Composition, and LunArt Festival Call for Scores.

As a native Chinese, Dr. Li has conducted field research on folk songs, folk chorus and ethnic instrumental music of various minorities, such as Dong, Miao, Yi, and Zhuang in southwest China, as well as Mongolian and Daur in northeast China. She has also extensively studied roles, singing styles, and instrumental music of Beijing Opera and Kunqu. Rooted in Chinese music and culture, she composed a duet for qingyi and xiao, a chamber concerto for hualian and chamber orchestra, a septet for guqin, guanzi, and five western instruments, a trio for flute, pipa, and cello, and a quartet for flute, pipa, erhu, and percussion. These compositions have been performed by virtuosos Zhihou Hu, Zhang Qiang, Zhou Yi, Shenshen Zhang, Guowei Wang, Chen Yue, Huang Mei, as well as Beijing Opera actress Zhu Hong and actor Qingxian Liu.

Dr. Li has taught composition and music theory at New York Philharmonic Orchestra’s Very Young Composers Program, University of Missouri-Kansas City, and China Conservatory of Music. Her composition students have been accepted by the Pre-College Division of The Juilliard School, Mannes School of Music, and Berklee College of Music. She has given music lectures at Grieg Academy-University of Bergen in Norway and Adelphi University in New York. As a pianist, she is skilled in playing improvisation piano accompaniment. She has worked with Metropolitan Opera conductor Gregory Buchalter, New England Conservatory professor Karen Holvik, and Chinese singer Gong Linna.

×

Benjamin Hochman

‘Classical music doesn't get better than this’ — The New York Times.

In all roles, from orchestral soloist, recitalist and chamber musician to conductor, Benjamin Hochman regards music as vital and essential. Composers, fellow musicians, orchestras and audiences recognize his deep commitment to insightful programming and performances of quality. An Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, he has performed at the Wigmore Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Vienna Konzerthaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall, and Suntory Hall. His festival appearances include Lucerne, Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Krzyżowa-Music, Marlboro Music and Santa Fe.

Hochman’s recent and upcoming highlights include playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Rheinische Staatsphilharmonie conducted by Benjamin Shwartz; conducting the Szeged Symphony and Orlando Philharmonic; solo recitals in Paris, Berlin, and Hitzacker; and chamber music at Tanglewood and Nymphenburger Sommer. He tours with the Curtis Institute of Music to Berlin, Bremen, Stockholm, and Vienna, and curates Signs, Games, and Messages, the Kurtág Festival at Bard College, New York, where he has served as Artistic Director since 2022.

Hochman’s 2024 Avie Records release, Resonance, features Beethoven, George Benjamin, Josquin, and Dowland, praised by Gramophone for its “subtle timbral palette and keen ear for texture.” Earlier albums include Homage to Schubert and Variations, a New York Times “Best Recording of the Year.”

Born in Jerusalem in 1980, Hochman studied with Claude Frank at the Curtis Institute of Music and Richard Goode at the Mannes School. At Mitsuko Uchida’s invitation, he spent three formative summers at the Marlboro Music Festival, during the same period that he was a member of the Bowers Program of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

At 24, he made his Carnegie Hall debut with the Israel Philharmonic under Pinchas Zukerman, leading to engagements with the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, the Chicago and Pittsburgh Symphonies, Ottawa’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, and the Prague Philharmonia. He has performed under conductors including Gianandrea Noseda, Trevor Pinnock, and David Robertson.

In 2015 Hochman developed an autoimmune condition affecting his left hand, which led him to pursue his longstanding interest in conducting. At Juilliard he studied with Alan Gilbert, receiving the Bruno Walter Scholarship and the Charles Schiff Award. Soon after, he conducted the orchestras of Santa Fe Pro Musica, Greater Bridgeport Symphony, and The Orchestra Now at Bard College.

Fully recovered, he returned to the piano in 2018, recording Mozart’s Piano Concertos Nos. 17 and 24 as pianist and director with the English Chamber Orchestra (Avie Records). He went on to present the complete Mozart Sonatas, perform Beethoven sonatas for Daniel Barenboim at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, and play both Beethoven and Kurtág for Kurtág himself at the Budapest Music Centre.

A Steinway Artist, he lives in Berlin and teaches at Bard College Berlin.

https://www.benjaminhochman.com/