VC Rising Star Christian Li To Release Debut Album

The 13-year-old violinist will become the youngest ever to record Vivaldi's Four Seasons

Australian-Chinese violinist and VC Rising Star Christian Li will release his debut CD with Decca Classics and members of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra on August 20.

The album will feature Antonio Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" — and also include Antonio Bazzini’s "La Ronde des Lutins" and the traditional folk tune "Fisherman's Harvest Song" adapted by Li Zili.

"It's dramatic, warm, and poetic," Li told Decca Classics of the Vivaldi. "I can use the music to tell the poems' storylines."

He added that the "Fisherman's Harvest Song" is the first Chinese piece he has played, and that to learn it, he traveled to China to work with a student of Zili. The piece contains glissandi elements like those of an erhu, a two-stringed Chinese musical instrument.

In 2018, Li became the youngest-ever winner of the Menuhin Competition when he was awarded the joint Junior First Prize at age 10.