Faculty profile

Faculty Profile: “…a tall order, but one expertly achieved by soprano Amanda Li. Hers is a huge voice but one which is highly adaptable and, when required, nimble.” -- Liverpool Daily Post

Soprano Amanda Li is equally at home on the recital and opera stage. She made her operatic debut in 2017 as Bao Chai in the Asian premiere of Bright Sheng’s Dream of the Red Chamber co-produced by San Francisco Opera and Hong Kong Arts Festival, and has given recitals in many cities around the UK and Europe. In 2018, Amanda created the role of Ma’am in Eli Marshall’s Mila, a chamber opera commissioned by the Asia Society Hong Kong. She revived the role in San Francisco and New York in 2019.

Dr. Li’s research interests include musico-poetic relationship in song cycles, gender issues in vocal performance, and analysis of music recordings. She presented her paper on the role of rubato in musical interpretation at the New Voice Educators’ Symposium.

Having taught voice for over ten years in Hong Kong, the UK, and in the States, Dr. Li is well versed in various musical styles. She is certified in Levels I and II of Somatic Voicework ™ the LoVetri Method.

Amanda premiered Chinese composer Sisi Feng’s Tao Te Ching with Ensemble 10/10, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Clark Rundell in Liverpool, UK. In Il Tempo del Postino, a group art show commissioned by the Manchester International Festival, Amanda sang excerpts from Madama Butterfly (Cio-Cio San) at the Manchester Opera House. She was later featured in the re-run of the production at the Art Basel Festival in Switzerland.

Major song repertoire includes Schumann’s Frauenliebe und -leben, Liederkreis Op. 39, Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder, Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder, Debussy’s Ariettes l’oubliées, and Poulenc’s Fiançailles pour rire. Other operatic roles include La Contessa (Le Nozze di Figaro), Clorinda (La Cenerentola), Dido and Second Lady (Dido and Aeneas), Fenena (Nabucco), as well as excerpt performances of Ginevra (Ariodante), Adina (L’Elisir d’Amore), First Lady (The Magic Flute), and Ilia (Idomeneo). Her oratorio repertoire includes Christmas Oratorio (Bach), Ein deutsches Requiem (Brahms), Requiem (Duruflé), Requiem (Jenkins), Nelson Mass, St. Nicholas Mass (Haydn), Missa Brevis (Kodály), Coronation Mass, Mass in C minor, Exultate Jubilate, Vespers (Mozart), Gloria (Poulenc), Stabat Mater, Petite Messe Solennelle (Rossini), and Gloria (Vivaldi). 

Formerly:
Assistant Professor at Southwestern College, KS

Member: National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS)
National Association for Music Education (NAfME)