Zhenni Li-Cohen

About

Hailed for her “torrents of voluptuous sound...Li impresses as an artist of tremendous conviction, who fascinates even as she provokes“ by Gramophone Magazine, “a thrillingly good pianist” by The New Yorker and for her "...big, gorgeous tone and a mesmerizing touch" by The Philadelphia Inquirer, Ms. Li-Cohen has performed in such notable venues as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and WQXR’s Greene Space in New York, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Performing Arts Center, Washington D.C.’s Smithsonian Museum, San Jose’s California Theater, the Helsinki Music Center in Finland, the Grieghallen in Norway and the Berliner Philharmonie in Germany.

Upcoming engagements include concerto appearances with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the National Orchestra of the Dominican Republic, the Fairbanks, Johns Hopkins, Bucks County, Lower Merion, University of Alberta and Knoxville Symphony Orchestras, and recitals in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Alaska, South Carolina, and Rhode Island. In adition to her solo career, Ms. Li-Cohen is a deeply devoted chamber musician. She has collaborated with members of the Aeolus, Borromeo, Jasper, Hugo Wolf, and New Orford quartets and she has performed at numerous chamber music festivals including Classical Bridge, Fontainebleau Festival, Kneisel Hall, Maui Chamber Music Festival, Methow Valley Chamber Music Festival, Music@Menlo, and Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute. 

Zhenni is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Opus 71 Concerts, a multimedia concert series near New York’s Lincoln Center.  Earning worldwide recognition as the winner of the 2017 New York Concert Artists Worldwide Debut Audition, Astral Artist’s 2016 National Auditions and the Grieg International Competition in Norway, her performances have been broadcast internationally on Canada National CBC Radio, Chicago’s WFMT Public Radio, Iowa Public Radio, New York’s WQXR, Norwegian National Radio: NPK P2/NPK Klassisk, Philadelphia’s WWFM and WRTI, Texas Public Radio, and West Virginia’s WVTF.

She is appointed as Associate Professor at University of Alberta and holds a Bachelor and Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School, an Artist Diploma from Yale School of Music and a Doctorate Degree at the McGill School of Music.  In her spare time, she enjoys learning jazz and new languages, looking forward to becoming pentalingual, traveling and meeting people of different cultures. 

Zhenni Li-Cohen is a Steinway Artist. (www.steinway.com/artists/zhenni-li-cohen)

Research

Album Releases:
Pentatone Label: with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under baton of Marin Alsop - Releasing 2026

Steinway & Sons Label: ”Beethoven’s Apotheosis” - Solo works by Beethoven Releasing 2025

New Leaf Label "Dialogue" - Duo album with cello and piano sonatas by Rachminoff and Rebecca Clarke(with Noémie Raymond-Friset) Released 2024

Steinway & Sons Label: “Legends of the Phoenix Queen” - Solo works by Chinese contemporary composers Releasing 2025

Steinway & Sons Label: ”One letter/Une lettre/Ein Brief” - Solo works by Ukrainian composer Sergei Bortkiewicz Releasing 2023 (received acclaim from Gramophone Magazine and others)

Steinway & Sons Label: ”Mélancolie” - Solo works by Lourié, Bartók and Schumann Released 2018 (received acclaim from Gramophone Magazine and others)

Projects:
Opus 71 Concerts - Multi-media Chamber Music Series, New York, NY  
Co-founder and Artistic Director
- a multimedia concert series near New York's Lincoln Center.

Fishin' in C - Chamber Music Series, Philadelphia, PA     2018-2022
Co-founder and Artistic Director
- a diverse chamber concert series in Philadelphia with the aim of bringing music to underserved areas.

Language Skills:
Fluent in English, Chinese, French; Italian Reading/Writing