Yunfei Li is a composer, and violinist based in Kansas City, MO. Yunfei writes music characterized by exploring new sounds on instruments and music software. She takes inspiration from the sounds of nature and has converted nature sounds into musical language as part of her original compositions. With a background that includes both Eastern and Western classical music, she is also inspired by a variety of modern music styles including pop music, electroacoustic music, and film music. As a composer, she has collaborated with film directors, writers, choreographers, and multimedia artists.
Her music has been performed by many festivals, including ClarinetFest, Seal Bay Music Festival, Women Composers Festival of Hartford, Festival of Contemporary Art Music at Washington State University, Atlantic Music Festival, Sewanee WinterFest, Northwestern University New-Music Conference and Festival, The Walden School, Arts Letters & Numbers, Turn Up Festival, North Star Music Festival, New Music on the Bayou. Yunfei’s music has been played by the Red Clay Saxophone Quartet, Splice Ensemble, Domino Ensemble, Cassatt String Quartet, Quintet Sirocco, Duo Entre-nous, Transient Canvas, Plaza Winds, Hub New Music, New Hong Kong Philharmonia, Hartwick Wind Ensemble, Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, University of Michigan Wind Ensemble, Millikin University Wind Ensemble, West Michigan University Wind Ensemble, The Wind Band Conducting Workshop at the University of Minnesota, UMKC Wind Symphony. Yunfei is a resident composer of the Nomadic Soundsters in 2021-2022. She has won a composition prize from MUSICACOUSTICA-Beijing International Electronic Music Composition Competition. She has also received an award from the Denver International Electronic Music Composition Competition. Her music has been featured by News & Record in North Carolina, KCUR 89.3, and Johnson County Library(KS).
Her recent piece Circling (2019) was recorded for Duo-Entre Nous’s debut album in March 2021. Her wind octet piece Five Elements (2021) was commissioned by Steven D. Davis and Anya Pogorelova and premiered by the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory Wind Symphony. This commission was made by grant funding from the UMKC Women’s Council and the support of 42 consortium members across North America.
Yunfei Li is a doctoral candidate in Music Composition at the University of Missouri - Kansas City, where she studies composition with Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Yotam Haber, and Paul Rudy. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a Master of Music in Composition, where she studied with Mark Engebretson, Alejandro Rutty, and Lisa Bielawa. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Electronic Music Production at the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music.
