COMPOSER

Geli Li is a Chinese-born American composer whose music bridges Eastern and Western traditions through a distinctive and evolving musical vocabulary. Over the past two decades, her musical journey has taken her across Asia, Europe, and North America. She has enthusiastically dedicated herself to the realm of new music, embracing both acoustic and electronic media while integrating instruments from diverse cultural traditions.

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Li has collaborated with over 30 ensembles and orchestras around the world, including the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Talea Ensemble, Klangforum Wien, Hanatsu Miroir, Chamber Orchestra Jahrhundert-XX-Österreich, NOMAD Tokyo, Berlin Zafraan Ensemble, 4Sonora String Quartet, Switch~Ensemble, SoundMap Ensemble, Balance Campaign Ensemble, Tace t(i) Ensemble, Chartreuse Trio, Fear No Music Ensemble, Hub New Music, Beijing Modern Ensemble, Oregon Symphony Orchestra, China Broadcast Orchestra, Beijing Chinese Orchestra, Central Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, among many others. She has also worked with distinguished artists and conductors such as Brad Lubman, James Baker, Peter Burwik, Manuel Nauri, Norman Huynh, Anthony Millet, Laura Cocks, Jay Campbell, and more.

 

Her compositions have been performed across North America, Asia, and Europe at numerous festivals and institutions, including ManiFeste IRCAM, Talea Ensemble’s 15th Anniversary, Women Composers Festival of Hartford, Thailand New Music and Arts Symposium, Symposium of Contemporary Music Research (Taiwan), UNK New Music Festival, Florida State University New Music Festival, Shanghai Spring International Music Festival, Oregon Bach Festival Composer Symposium, Intimacy of Creativity Music Festival, Midwest Graduate Music Consortium Conference, and Das China Festival der Hochschüler für Musik und Theater, among many others.

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Recognized with 40 international composition awards and honors, Li's music has been featured at more than 30 international music festivals and conferences. Her work has been supported by over 10 fellowships and residencies, including appointments at the Copland House CULTIVATE Composer Institute (2025), Mizzou International Composers Festival (2025), and the DeGaetano Composition Institute (2024, under the mentorship of Augusta Read Thomas); the ManiFeste Academy at IRCAM (2024, mentored by Francesca Verunelli); the Rodamúsic Musical Composition Residency (2024, under the guidance of Voro Garcia); and the Intimacy of Creativity at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (2017, under the mentorship of Bright Sheng).

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Her academic path reflects her global outlook and commitment to cross-cultural dialogue. Li holds a doctoral degree in Music Composition from the University of Texas at Austin, where she was awarded the Academic Excellence Fellowship, Professional Development Award, and the Kent Kennan Endowed Graduate Fellowship. She studied composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg as part of her master's program and completed both her bachelor's and master's degrees with top honors at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Her musical development has been enriched by mentorship from Augusta Read Thomas, Januibe Tejera, Yevgeniy Sharlat, Elmar Lampson, Qin Wenchen, Hao Weiya, and others.

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In recent years, her compositional philosophy has evolved beyond sound itself, offering cultural reflection through music. She explores a broad spectrum of timbres, drawing from the nuanced interplay of pitch, gesture, and noise. This approach is exemplified in her current project Me and My Shadows, a concerto for Chinese sheng and Western ensemble, composed through a contemporary new music idiom. Continuing this exploration, her upcoming work When My Eyes Closed—written for accordion, Japanese sho, and alto saxophone—will premiere in June 2025 at the Valentiny Foundation in Remerschen, Luxembourg, commissioned by Ensemble United Instruments of Lucilin.

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In addition to her compositional work, Li is a dedicated educator. Since August 2024, she has served as Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at Macalester College, where she teaches a wide range of courses in music composition, theory, history, and contemporary music.