Geli Li is an American-based composer whose music straddles Eastern and Western cultures based on her original musical vocabulary. In her two decades of music creation journey, she has enthusiastically and constantly expanded the ecology of sounds in her music from acoustic to digital, resulting in a hybrid synthesis of expression, concept, and philosophy.
She has worked internationally with many leading artists, including but not limited to Peter Burwik, Manuel Nauri, Norman Huynh, Asya Fateyeva, Alice Belugou, Laura Cocks of TAK Ensemble (USA), Jay Campbell of JACK Quartet (USA), Talea Ensemble (USA), SoundMap Ensemble (USA), Unheard-of ensemble (USA), Chartreuse Trio (USA), the University of Chicago New Music Ensemble (USA), andPlay (USA), Spektral Quartet (USA), Hanatsu Miroir Ensemble (France), Fear No Music Ensemble (USA), Tacet(i) Ensemble (Thailand), [Switch~Ensemble] (USA), Hub New Music (USA), Chamber-orchestra-Jahrhundert- xx- Österreich (AT), Ensemble NOMAD (JP), Altius Quartet (USA), Chamber orchestra Klangforum Wien (AT), Berlin Zafraan Ensemble (DE), Central Conservatory Symphony Orchestra (CN), Beijing Traditional Orchestra, Beijing Modern Ensemble, China Broadcast Traditional Orchestra, China Youth Symphony Orchestra.
Her music has been selected and presented at a variety of festivals, conferences, and workshops like the 27th Midwest Graduate Music Consortium, 2023 and 2024 Women Composers Festival of Hartford, Electric LATEX, 2022 Florida State University of New Music Festival, Thailand New Music and Arts Symposium, Oregon Bach Festival Composer Symposium, Oregon Symphony Composition Workshop, Intimacy of Creativity Chamber Music Festival, Das China Festival der Hochschüler für Musik und Theater, Shanghai Spring International Music Festival. As a guest composer, she is widely sought internationally at institutions such as the Symposium of Contemporary Music Research at the Nanhua University, University of Texas at Austin, Portland State University (2018/19); Intimacy of Creativity Chamber Music Festival at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (2017), Beijing International Composition Workshop (2013), Shanghai Symposium for New Compositions of Music (2016).
Geli received an Academic Excellence Fellowship (2023/24), Kent Kennan Endowed Graduate Fellowship (2020/21), and a Professional Development Award from the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin (2021/22). Meanwhile, she is the winner the finalist in Impulse New Music Festival New Voices (2021/22), the 1st prize winner and 2nd prize winner in the 10th/12th SUN RIVER PRIZE Students’ New Music Composition Competition (2014/16), 3rd prize winner in the 6th ConTempo Composition Competition of New Chamber Music (2013), Honorable Mention in the 17th National Musical Works Competition for chorus and orchestra (2013), 2nd prize winner in the United States Golden Key Music Festival in the youth artist category (2012), 3rd prize winner in the New Chinese Traditional Orchestra Composition Competition (2012). Her music has been published by China Publishing Group Modern Press, Schott Music Group Beijing Universal Audio and Video Publishing House, and Shanghai Music Published House.
Geli is a current doctoral student in Music Composition at the University of Texas at Austin, where she studies with Donald Grantham, Yevgeniy Sharlat, and Januibe Tejera. She also studied Music Composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, Germany, with Elmar Lampson from 2014 to 2015. She holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Music Composition from the Central Conservatory of Music in China, where she studied with LUO Xinmin, HAO Weiya, and QIN Wenchen. Her composition study has been enriched by further studies with numerous individuals like Bright SHENG, CHEN Qigang, CHEN Yi, ZHOU Long, Samuel Alder, Oliver Schneller, Joe Cutler, Luca Francesconi, Vladimir TARNOPOLSKI, CHEN Xiaoyong, GAO Weijie, CHAN Wing-wah, Lei Liang, Hannah Lash, Gabriela Lena Frank, Samy Moussa, Panayiotis Kokoras, Daniel D’Adamo, Brigitta Muntendorf, Dai Fujikura, Steven Takasugi, and among many others. Meanwhile, she is the selected composer fellow at the Composition Workshop at Gong-geng College (2016), Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt (2023), and ManiFeste Academy (2024).
