Isabella Li has been a faculty member of the New England Conservatory’s Preparatory School since 1997. Many of her students have won awards and competitions throughout the years, including New England Piano Teachers’ Association (NEPTA) Middle and High School Piano Competition, the Young Artist Competition in New York City, International Paderewski Piano Competition in CT, Concerto Competition at New England Conservatory of Music, MTNA Piano Competition MA and Steinway Junior Piano Competition.
Born in China, Isabella appeared as a soloist at age 7. She performed as a soloist across China, including in Xian, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. She has also performed concertos by Bach, Kabalevsky, Mozart and Beethoven.
Isabella came to the US with a full scholarship to study Piano Performance and Pedagogue at Westminster Choir College under Jose Ramos Santana and Phyllis Lehrer. She performed as a soloist in Princeton, New Jersey, Carnegie Weill Recital Hall in New York City, Pollack Hall at McGill University in Montreal, and Victoria Concert Hall in Singapore. She has also performed chamber music and worked as a collaborative artist with many other musicians.
Isabella’s love and passion for teaching piano was nurtured from her very early years by her mother who is also a pianist. Isabella started teaching piano while in middle school and knew early on that she would devote her life to teaching. Isabella was trained at the New School for Music Study founded by Frances Clark in Princeton, New Jersey. She has extensive teaching experience with Frances Clark’s piano teaching method. Isabella has since developed her own methodology of teaching the young pianist with particular focus on establishing a solid foundation of reading, technique, musicality by using classical repertoire from the beginning of a pianist’s career.
B.M. (Shanghai Conservatory of Music), M.M. in piano performance and pedagogy (Westminster Choir College