Premiered and recorded by Jay Campbell in 2022.

The Embrace of the Wind and the Memories - for amplified cello and electronics

Premiered by Laura Cocks on September 29, 2023.

Breath V - for amplified flute and electronics

TRIO

Sheng: Yang Zheng
Flute: Annabel Macdonald 
Bassoon: Brigit Fitzgerald 
Percussion: Francis Favis 
Piano: Ellen Sirower 
Violin I: Ben Kronk
Violin II: Zach Mattenson
Viola: Isaac Fuentes
Cello: Matt Armbuster 
Conductor: Januibe Tejera 
Recording Engineer: Deniz Aslan

Me And My Shadows - for Chinese Sheng and Ensemble

Anthony Millet (accordéon)
Sylvain Cadars (diffusion sonore Ircam)
Geli Li (composer)

Breath VI - for amplified accordion and electronics (2024)

Sleeping Light was commissioned by the DeGaetano Composition Institute of Orchestra of St. Luke’s. The work premiered by Orchestra of St. Luke’s, conducted by Brad Lubman, at The DiMenna Center for Classical Music’s Cary Hall on July 23, 2024.

Sleeping Light - for chamber orchestra

Growing Clay, commissioned by the Associació Cultural Rodamúsic and Rodamúsic Composers Residency, is a work dedicated to and first performed by the 4Sonora string quartet. This composition vividly embodies transformation and evolution, drawing inspiration from the malleable nature of clay and the vibrant culture of Potríes, Valencia.

In this piece, clay represents not just a material but a metaphor for musical creation. The humble yet boundless potential of clay, which is shaped and evolved into artifacts of beauty and utility, mirrors the development of musical ideas through variations, transformations, and repetitions. This process results in a cohesive and profound artistic expression.

Potríes, celebrated for its deep agricultural roots and traditional ceramics and pottery, enriches this narrative. The town's heritage of transforming raw earth into cherished objects parallels the composer's ambition of shaping sound into a narrative that resonates with themes of growth and transformation. The textures, colors, and patterns of Potríes' landscapes and ceramics are intricately woven into the musical textures and motifs of the piece, offering listeners a multisensory journey through sound.

The premiere performance by 4Sonora took place at the Potries Music Festival on May 26, 2024, encapsulating about 7 minutes of music that speaks to both personal and communal evolution.

Growing Clay - for string quartet (2024)

When My Eyes Closed was commissioned by Ensemble United Instruments of Lucilin in 2024. The piece was premiered by Anthony Millet, Naomi Sato, and Olivier Sliepen on June 29th at the Valentiny Foundation in Luxembourg.


When My Eyes Closed - for shō, accordion, and alto saxophone (2025)

The Smell of Sunshine was premiered by Alarm Will Sound, conducted by Alan Pierson, on July 26, 2025, at the Sinquefield Music Center in Columbia, Missouri.

The Smell of Sunshine (2025)

Breath IV – for chamber orchestra and tape 
Composed for The Experimental & Electronics Music Studios Project
Premiered by UT Austin New Music Ensemble, conducted by Januibe Tejera

Breath IV (2021)

A Duo for Sheng and Zheng《沅芷醴兰》

Performed by Zafraan Ensemble, Shengying Gu (pipa), Manuel Nauri (conductor).

Pure Water without Fragrance (2013)

Written for CAO Yuan and recorded at the National Radio and Television Administration in Beijing, China in 2017.

The Embrace of the Bell and the Breeze

With a deep enthusiasm for new music, an intense curiosity about the world of sound, and a rich multicultural background, Geli Li (b. 1992) is a Chinese-born American composer whose music bridges Eastern and Western musical traditions through a personal idiom and a contemporary musical vocabulary. Over the past two decades, her musical journey has taken her across Asia, Europe, and North America. Born into a musical family in Guangzhou, China, she began professional and systematic training in music composition at the age of twelve, studying in conservatory settings in China, Germany, and the United States.

Li holds a doctoral degree in Music Composition with a concentration in Electronic Music from the University of Texas at Austin, where she studied with Januibe Tejera and Yevgeniy Sharlat. She also studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg under Elmar Lampson and at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing with Wenchen Qin. Her artistic development has been further shaped by mentorship from numerous influential figures, including Augusta Read Thomas and others.

Since 2020, Li has increasingly gravitated toward sound exploration and timbre-driven approaches to music creation. Her Breath series—comprising seven works for various instrumentations—embraces both acoustic and electronic media. Highlights include Breath VI (2024) for amplified accordion, composed for Anthony Millet and premiered at the ManiFeste Academy Festival at IRCAM; and Breath II (2021) for string trio, premiered by Hanatsu Miroir and recorded by the Talea Ensemble in 2024. Additional recent works include Sleeping Light for chamber orchestra, commissioned by the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and conducted by Brad Lubman; The Smell of Sunshine, commissioned by the Mizzou International Composers Festival and premiered by Alarm Will Sound under Alan Pierson in July 2025; Vertical Scaling, commissioned by Copland House’s CULTIVATE Institute and premiered in New York City in June 2025; and The Embrace of Wind and the Memories (2022) for cello and electronics, premiered and recorded by Jay Campbell.

In recent years, her compositional interests have turned toward cultural reflection through music, particularly through reimagining the sonic possibilities of traditional Eastern instruments. She explores a broad spectrum of timbres shaped by the nuanced interplay of pitch, gesture, and noise. This approach is exemplified in her concerto Me and My Shadows, written for Chinese sheng and Western ensemble in a contemporary new music idiom. Continuing this exploration, her upcoming work When My Eyes Closed—for accordion, Japanese shō, and alto saxophone—will premiere in June 2025 at the Valentiny Foundation in Remerschen, Luxembourg, commissioned by Ensemble United Instruments of Lucilin. In parallel, she is collaborating with the AsianArt Ensemble Berlin on a new work that deepens the dialogue between Eastern and Western instrumental voices, set to premiere in Berlin in August 2025.

Li’s music has been performed across three continents by more than 30 ensembles and orchestras, including the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Talea Ensemble, Klangforum Wien, Hanatsu Miroir, Chamber Orchestra Jahrhundert-XX-Österreich, NOMAD Tokyo, Berlin Zafraan Ensemble, 4Sonora String Quartet, Switch~Ensemble, SoundMap Ensemble, Balance Campaign Ensemble, Tace t(i) Ensemble, Chartreuse Trio, Fear No Music Ensemble, Hub New Music, Beijing Modern Ensemble, Oregon Symphony Orchestra, China Broadcast Orchestra, Beijing Chinese Orchestra, and the Central Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, among many others. She has received over 45 international awards and honors, with her work featured at more than 30 major festivals worldwide.

Most recently (2024–2025), Li has received commissions from the Henri Lazarof Living Legacy at Brandeis University, the Museum of Contemporary Art Connecticut and Hub New Music, Ensemble United Instruments of Lucilin, Copland House’s CULTIVATE Institute, the Mizzou International Composers Festival, the DeGaetano Composition Institute, and the Potries Composition Residency.

She currently serves as Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at Macalester College, where she teaches courses in music composition, music theory, and new music.

Geli Li - Composer

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