Magdalen Hsu Li

Asian American recording artist Magdalen Hsu-Li was born as Rochelle Li in 1970 and raised in Martinsville, VA. She was forced to take piano lessons when she was eight, but hated them. After three years, she fought her way out of the lessons. After that, she actually started out as a different kind of artist, a painter. Magdalen attended the Rhode Island School of Design. Her talents won her a scholarship, a fellowship, and a Florence Leif Award. She graduated in 1992 and moved to Seattle, WA. It was there that she finally began to study music again, this time happily, at the Cornish College of the Arts. She trained in both classical and jazz, winning the Cornish Music Scholarship in 1995. Julian Priester, Janice Giteck, Jovino Santos Neto, and Peter Mack were some of her masterful teachers. Magdalen began performing in 1996, working the circuit of festivals, performing arts centers, and colleges. In a year's time, her first album, Muscle and Bone, was being finished up. It was released under the Chickpop Records label in 1997. That same year, she found time to begin Femme Vitale, a Women's Music and Arts Coalition that earned a Special Projects Grant. In 1998, Magdalen recorded a sophomore offering, Evolution. "Chick Pop," "Submissive," "Dark Sees," "Blood Money," and "Lillian" are some of the tunes on her first two albums. She went to work in 2000 on her next full-length album, Fire. ~ Charlotte Dillon, All Music Guide