With its complex structure, harmonic depths and propulsive momentum, Claude Debussy’s “Pour le Piano” (1902) was a compositional revolution — a work dedicated, in the words of one critic, “not to the instrumentalists, but to the instrument itself.”
In this video, Washington University in St. Louis student Yihan Li, a senior majoring in biochemistry and in music, both in Arts & Sciences, performs the Prelude to Debussy’s musical manifesto in the 560 Music Center’s historic E. Desmond Lee Concert Hall.
Li, who began studying piano at age 5, won the Department of Music’s 2016 Friends of Music Award, the 2016-17 Friends of Music Concerto Competition and the 2018 Antoinette Dames Award. Earlier this spring, she performed the Prelude, along with works by Beethoven and Chopin, as part of her Senior Honors Recital. She is currently studying under the instruction of Annette Burkhart, teacher of applied music.
After graduating in May, Li will attend pharmacy school with her dog, Daisy, by her side.