Genius Pianist

"Li is more than just technique. His playing has soul and poetry. The gentle lyricism of the mazurkas (music for a kind of Polish dance) is idiomatic and musical, the phrasing at once elegant and idiomatic."

Comments like the above went to the youngest prizewinner in the history of the Warsaw International Chopin Competition. In 2000, the 18-year-old Chinese pianist Yundi Li took the gold medal at the 14th Warsaw International Chopin Competition, becoming the first pianist in 15 years to be deemed worthy of the top prize. (Chopin was a famous composer born in Poland.)