Amanda Wai-Yin Li

Soprano Amanda Wai-Yin Li is equally at home on the recital and opera stage. She made her operatic debut as Bao Chai in the Asian premiere of Bright Sheng's Dream of the Red Chamber, co-produced by San Francisco Opera and the Hong Kong Arts Festival, and has given recitals throughout the UK and Europe. Li created the role of Ma'am in Eli Marshall's chamber opera Mila, commissioned by Asia Society Hong Kong, and revived the role in San Francisco and New York. While residing in the UK, she premiered Sisi Feng's Tao Te Ching with Ensemble 10/10 of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in Liverpool, UK. In Il Tempo del Postino, a group art show commissioned by the Manchester International Festival, Li sang excerpts from Madama Butterfly (Cio-Cio San) at the Manchester Opera House and was later featured in the re-run of the production at Art Basel in Switzerland. Recent Wagnerian engagements include Sieglinde in Die Walküre with the Dramatic Voices Program in Berlin and Gerhilde in Wagner's Die Walküre with the American Wagner Festival.

Major song repertoire includes Schumann's Frauenliebe und -leben and 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).

Having previously taught at the State University of New York at Oswego and Southwestern College, Dr. Li is well-versed in classical, musical theatre, and contemporary commercial styles. She is certified in Levels I and II of Somatic Voicework™ The LoVetri Method, and her students have gone on to graduate study and professional regional theatre engagements. Li also frequently serves as a clinician and masterclass instructor, working with singers of all ages and levels.

At West Virginia University, Dr. Li teaches applied voice, opera workshop, and lyric diction. Her teaching emphasizes culturally informed and student-centered approaches to singer training, encouraging students to develop technical proficiency, artistic independence, and expressive communication across languages and styles. Beyond the voice studio, she has served as a music director and vocal coach for more than a dozen productions in professional and academic settings, including Guys and Dolls, Bright Star, Head Over Heels, and SpongeBob SquarePants the Musical.

Li's research interests include diction and singer training, culturally informed approaches to voice pedagogy, the experiences of students from Confucian Heritage Cultures (CHC) in higher education, musico-poetic relationships in song repertoire, late-Romantic vocal music, and the analysis of music recordings. She has presented her work at regional, national, and international venues, including the WVMEA In-Service Conference, the West Virginia University Teaching and Learning Conference, and the International Society for Music Education (ISME) Commission for the Education of the Professional Musician (CEPROM) Pre-Conference Seminar. Li serves on the Advisory Group of ISME's Commission for the Education of the Professional Musician (CEPROM) and is a member of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), and the International Society for Music Education (ISME). In 2026, she received an Arts Entrepreneurship for Individual Artists Grant from the West Virginia Department of Tourism and the National Endowment for the Arts in support of professional development and creative activity.

Originally from Hong Kong, Li earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music from The Chinese University of Hong Kong before pursuing graduate studies at the Royal Northern College of Music and Royal Holloway, University of London. She subsequently earned the Doctor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University Bloomington.