bio
Praised by the New York Concert Review for having "played with astonishing maturity and flair," Dr. Er-Hsuan Li, NCTM, is a highly accomplished pianist. Through his work as a musician and teacher, Li advocates for the inherent nature of classical music as an ongoing dialogue between reexploring the past and envisioning the future. A native of Taiwan, he has performed and toured across the United States, as well as in Mexico, Austria, Spain, Russia, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, with notable performances at Carnegie Hall, the Harris Theater in Chicago, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and the Taiwan National Concert Hall. Li earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance at the University of Colorado Boulder, a Master of Music degree from Northwestern University, and a Bachelor of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music. He currently serves as Assistant Teaching Professor of Piano at Montana State University.
Prior to joining Montana State University, Li was on faculty at Pacific Lutheran University and has held appointments at the University of Colorado Boulder. In recent years, he has also taught masterclasses at institutions including Baylor University and the Festival de Perfeccionamiento Pianístico in Xalapa, Mexico, where he taught for three consecutive years. He has also served as an adjudicator for piano competitions and festivals, including the Performing Arts Festival of Eastside in Bellevue, Washington, and the Kalispell Area Music Teachers Association Spring Festival, where he participated in a three-day residency that included adjudicating the competition, teaching masterclasses, and presenting a lecture for local music teachers. In the coming academic year, he will serve as a guest artist at New Mexico State University and present masterclasses at the University of Chicago and the University of Utah.
As a sought-after collaborative pianist, Li has served as a competition staff collaborative pianist for the International Horn Competition of America and the Colorado Children’s Chorale. His major collaborative performances include tours and engagements across the United States. He has released three albums on Spotify and Apple Music, including Nostos (Soundset Recordings), American Sonatas from Two Millennia (Clarinet & Saxophone Classics Recordings), and John Clay Allen’s piano concerto The Stone Harp with the Boulder Symphony (Axiom Music). During the upcoming season, he will perform as Principal Keyboard with the Bozeman Symphony for the majority of its concerts and will record a new album of French repertoire for saxophone and piano with saxophonist Wonki Lee.
In recognition of his remarkable artistic contributions, Li has received several national scholarships. These awards supported the creation of the Nostos album, a performance of Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1, and the world premiere of John Clay Allen’s concerto The Stone Harp with the Boulder Symphony at the Dairy Art Center. He is also a prizewinner in various competitions in the United States and Taiwan, including the Bruce Ekstrand Memorial Performance Competition and the Rondo Forma Competition.
Specializing in contemporary music, Li has premiered over twenty new works as a soloist, collaborative pianist, and ensemble keyboardist. Notable experiences include working on Boulez’s Douze Notations with Pierre-Laurent Aimard, performing Steve Reich’s City Life, Tehillim, and Clapping Music alongside Reich himself, and working with Chinese Canadian composer Alexina Louie on her well-known work Scenes From A Jade Terrace. This season, he will premiere a newly commissioned solo piano work by Colombian American composer Fabian Beltran.
As a researcher and scholar, Li has presented his work at numerous international, national, and regional conferences and institutions, including the Music Teachers National Association, the National Conference of Keyboard Pedagogy, the College Music Society, and the North American Saxophone Alliance. His research explores contemporary music, piano pedagogy, inclusive and sensory-friendly performance, and historically underrepresented composers. His conference activities span research presentations, lectures, and featured performances, including a performance at the GP3 Forum this year and an upcoming performance at the College Music Society National Conference. In 2025, his research “Strategies for Performing Pierre Boulez’s Douze Notations” appeared in the MTNA e-Journal as a tribute to Boulez’s centennial. His writing also includes articles on works by Black women composers Jacqueline Hairston and Philippa Duke Schuyler for the Helen Walker-Hill Collection. Most recently, he was featured in From the Artist Bench, a pedagogical and performance video series hosted by the Frances Clark Center, presenting Alexina Louie’s Warrior from Scenes From A Jade Terrace.