Pianist George Li, the most recent Silver Medalist at the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, performs Chopin’s “Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor” with the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, under the direction of Dr. Allan Birney, 7:30 p.m. April 16, First Presbyterian Church Allentown, 3231 W. Tilghman St., Allentown.

About a year ago, while planning Sinfonia’s 2015-16 season, Birney invited Li to appear as piano soloist with the orchestra. At the time, 19-year-old Li was studying at Harvard University and amassing an impressive amount of piano competition awards. Birney had been following the progress of the young pianist since he first heard a recording of him perform at age 12.

Plans were set for Li’s appearance in Allentown. Then in July 2015, Li received yet another stellar honor in the music world, the Silver Medal at the prestigious Tchaikovsky Competition. He is the first American to win in this category since Van Cliburn won the Gold Medal at the very first quadrennial Tchaikovsky Competition in 1958.

The Washington Post praised George Li for combining “staggering technical prowess, a sense of command and depth of expression.” He made his Alice Tully Hall debut last season, and is in the Harvard University-New England Conservatory joint program.

The concert title, “Youthful Masterpieces,” refers to the program’s music, which was written early on in the lives of the composers. Chopin wrote his “Piano Concerto No. 1” at age 20 in his native Poland, just two years before moving to Paris for the balance of his life. The editor of the French Revue musicale wrote of this piece, “There is spirit in these melodies, there is fantasy in these passages, and everywhere there is originality.”

In a work for only the strings of the orchestra, Sinfonia will play “Verklärte Nacht” (“Transfigured Night”), written by Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg in 1899 when he was 25. Listeners may think of his later atonal works when they hear the name Schoenberg, but Birney explains that this piece, based on a poem about a man and woman walking through the forest, definitely has the attributes of late Romantic music.

The concert opens with the Scherzo movement from Felix Mendelssohn’s music composed for Shakespeare’s play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” It is a light, vivacious 19th century work. “It’s short and fast,” Birney says, “and shows off everyone in the orchestra.”

Tickets: at the door, in advance: PASinfonia.org, 610 434-7811