Darien elementary student wins international piano competition

Christopher Li, a 4th grader at Hindley Elementary School, came in First Place at the 2021 Piano Star International Competition.  The event was live-streamed on December 11, 2021.  Christopher performed in Amateur Group B, competing against 37 players from 13 different countries. The competition was judged by professional pianists and college professors. After performing in several preliminary rounds, he performed Golliwog’s Cakewalk by Debussy in the Grand Finals.  Christopher was awarded $200 in prize money.  He dedicated his performance and victory to his grandfather, who passed away unexpectedly in 2021.  Says Christopher, “My Grandpa is the most loving person I know.  I know he can hear me whenever I play.”

A video of his performance is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbGsJIp6TX4

This was Christopher’s first competition.  He has been studying piano for 3 years with piano teacher Li-Pi Hsieh.  Colleen Thompson, Director of Music for the Darien Public Schools, spoke with Christopher and his parents Eric Li and Anh Tang after learning about his victory.  They shared that Christopher first became interested in the piano after taking a keyboarding class at Darien Town Hall.  Anh noticed that after only a short time being exposed to the instrument, Christopher was playing beautifully on his keyboard at home.  He has perfect pitch, and the uncanny ability to memorize music quickly.  He loves playing piano - he is especially drawn to composers from the Romantic period like Debussy and Chopin - and practices 1 to 2 hours per day.

Christopher is thankful for his music teacher at Hindley Elementary School, Mrs. Knapp, for inspiring him with the “beautiful music, songs and dances,” in music class every week.  He is also grateful to his violin teacher Ms. Hanley for teaching him “the beauty of the violin and nurturing his musicality over the year,” and to Ms. Minnis for giving him an opportunity to perform with the Advanced Chamber Orchestra at Darien High School over the summer.  In addition to playing piano and violin, Christopher enjoys playing tennis and chess, doing puzzles, and hiking with his mom.  Christopher looks forward to competing in more piano competitions and hopes to perform in his first live competition in Hartford in February.