Gloucestershire Young Musician of the Year James Li’s dream came true when he performed Sibelius’s virtuoso violin concerto before a capacity audience in Cheltenham.
Ever since he was a young child, he had always wanted to play the work and on Sunday, he realised his ambition with Gloucestershire Symphony Orchestra giving an outstanding performance at The Big Classical, Cheltenham College.
“It feels as if I made the impossible happen because this was my dream concerto when I was a kid,” said James. “This wouldn’t have happened without GSO and conductor Glyn Oxley who’s helped me so much.”
His proud parents Raymond and Karen, who live in Cheltenham, said they had tears in their eyes when they watched their son give his breathtaking winner’s concert, before civic dignitaries, sponsors, county music chiefs as well as families and young musicians. The concert also featured Sibelius’s Symphony No 5 and Borodin’s evocative In the Steppes of Central Asia.
Officially launching the 2025 county contest, Hong Kong-born James has played at Cheltenham Music Festival as well as with ESO at the Elgar Festival in Worcester this year and is due to perform Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending with Gloucestershire Youth Orchestra. He is currently studying for his master’s programme at the Mozarteum University Salzburg.
Here is a video of James playing the Sibelius concerto:
