Yundi Li

What if I told you an 18-year-old could win the world’s most famous piano contest and become a superstar overnight? That teenager was Yundi Li.

Yundi Li is a Chinese pianist born in 1982. The most important thing about him is that he rose to fame at the turn of the 21st century by winning the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 2000 when he was 18.

That win launched his international career. Yundi gave concerts around the world, recorded albums of Chopin’s music, and played with major orchestras. People praised his playing for being very expressive — like a piano that can sing and tell stories.

His biggest impact was inspiring millions to listen to classical music and showing kids that practice and love for music can lead to big stages. If you like music that feels like a story, try one of his Chopin recordings — you might hear the piano telling a tale just for you.