Joseph Li

Vice President, Artistic, MN Opera

Seattle native Joseph Li joined Minnesota Opera as Vice President, Artistic in 2021.

An alumnus of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, Mr. Li made his conducting debut leading new works commissioned for Houston Grand Opera by Jack Perla and Franghiz Ali-Zadeh. Mr. Li has served as principal coach for world premieres including André Previn’s Brief Encounter at Houston Grand Opera and John Musto’s The Inspector, commissioned by the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts. Productions he has coached at HGO include La fille du régiment, La bohème, Béatrice et Bénédict, Cruzar la Cara de la Luna, and Dead Man Walking. He has performed in recital with Jamie Barton, Tamara Wilson, and Ryan McKinny, and has served as a guest coach and instructor for Houston Grand Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Minnesota Opera, Rice University, Baylor University, Opera Lyra Ottawa, Arizona Opera, Opera Birmingham, and the Aspen Opera Theater Center.

In 2012 Mr. Li joined the music staff and guest artist roster of Wolf Trap Opera, where in recent seasons he has served as Manager of Special Projects. During the 2017 WTO season he conducted Philip Glass’ chamber opera The Fall of the House of Usher in collaboration with the Inscape Chamber Orchestra and Halcyon Stage in Washington, D.C., and later conducted the first studio recording of the piece, which was released in 2019 by Orange Mountain Music. Other projects during WTO’s summer seasons have included conducting Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins in collaboration with the Hong Kong Ballet and Halcyon Stage, performing in duo-piano chamber recitals with Steven Blier, Artistic Director of the New York Festival of Song, playing for WTO’s Vocal Colors series at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. and WTO’s new Salon Series concerts, and coaching for productions of Don Giovanni, Carmen, Le nozze di Figaro, Madama Butterfly, The Juniper Tree, and Bastianello.

Mr. Li has performed regularly with and for the New York Festival of Song and serves on NYFOS’ Artist Council. He made his NYFOS and Merkin Hall debut in New York City performing in recital with Mr. Blier in W.C. Handy & The Birth of the Blues, returning in future seasons for T’aint Nobody’s Business if I Do: Songs of Gay Harlem.

Mr. Li holds degrees in Piano Performance and Vocal Accompanying from the Manhattan School of Music.