Born in 1917, Li Delun is one of China's most notable musicians and conductors. Formerly the artistic director and principal conductor of the former Central Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of China, Li is now the advisor of the China National Symphony Orchestra.
Li graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory where he studied the cello with I. Shevtzov and R. Duckson, as well as musical theory with W. Frankel. He also organized the China Youth Symphony Orchestra with his schoolmate in 1942. Li's career as a conductor took off in 1943, and in 1946 he conducted the Yan'an Central Orchestra. When the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, Li was nominated conductor of the China Central Opera House in Beijing.
In 1953-57, the Moscow Conservatory enrolled Li to further his studies under N. Anosov, and Li conducted over 20 orchestras throughout the former U.S.S.R. In the fall of 1957, he returned to China and became the conductor and artistic director of the Central Philharmonic Orchestra. Li also appeared as conductor in the former Czechoslovakia, Finland, Japan, Korea and Cuba in the following years.
In 1977, Li conducted a gala concert for Beethoven's 150th anniversary, which was a historical concert in China's musical history following the Cultural Revolution. Ten years later, he conducted yet another impressive concert where more than 810 musicians gathered to open the Beijing Symphonic Festival.
From 1985 to 1995 Li toured Luxembourg, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Canada, the United States, the Soviet Union, Hong Kong and Taiwan as a guest conductor.
As an outstanding Chinese musician, Li premiered many Chinese works and introduced many works by Chinese composers to the world, includingTheYellow River CantataandSong of the Mountain Forest.
Li cooperated with many world-class musicians, including David Oistrakh, Yehudi Menuhin, Isaac Stern, Tortelier, Yo-Yo Ma, Fou Ts'ong, Bezrodnai, Nikolaevea, as well as well-known Chinese pianists Loyi Wu, Liu Shikun and Shi Shucheng; violinists Lu Siqing, Xue Wei and Yu Linan, and many others.
Li served as a member of the jury at the Menuhin International Violin Competition in Paris, France in 1985 and the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, U.S.S.R., in 1986. He was also the president of the jury at the National Competition of Orchestra Conductors in China in 1993. Li has devoted himself to musical education by giving hundreds of lectures in more than 20 cities across China.
Li was awarded the Honorary Prize of Conductorship of China in 1980 and was the recipient of the Liszt Memory Medal from the Ministry of Culture and Education of Hungary in 1986. He was also given the National Medal of Friendship by former Russian President Boris Yeltsin in 1997.
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