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Teng Li

viola, John Connell Chair

About this Artist

Teng Li is a diverse and dynamic performer internationally. Recently, she was appointed Principal Violist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic after more than a decade as Principal with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.  

Teng Li is also an active recitalist and chamber musician participating in the festivals of Marlboro, Santa Fe, Mostly Mozart, Music from Angel Fire, Rome, Moritzburg (Germany), and the Rising Stars Festival in Caramoor. She has performed with the Guarneri Quartet in New York, at Carnegie Hall (Weill Recital Hall), and with the 92nd Street “Y” Chamber Music Society. Teng was featured with the Guarneri Quartet in their last season (2009) and was also a member of the prestigious Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society Two program. She is a member of the Rosamunde Quartet (led by Noah Bendix-Balgley, Concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic) and the Toronto-based Arkel Trio.

Teng Li has been featured as soloist with the National Chamber Orchestra, the Santa Rosa Symphony, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Haddonfield Symphony, Shanghai Opera Orchestra, Canadian Sinfonietta, and Esprit Orchestra. Her performances have been broadcast on CBC Radio 2, National Public Radio, WQXR (New York), WHYY (Pennsylvania), WFMT (Chicago), and Bavarian Radio (Munich).

She has won top prizes at the Johanson International and the Holland-America Music Society competitions, the Primrose International Viola Competition, the Irving M. Klein International String Competition, and the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, Germany. She was also a winner of the Astral Artistic Services 2003 National Auditions.

Her discography includes a solo CD entitled 1939 with violinist Benjamin Bowman and pianist Meng-Chieh Liu (for Azica), along with many Toronto Symphony credits, most recently a Vaughan Williams disc featuring Teng Li performing Flos Campi (for Chandos). 

Teng is a graduate of the Central Conservatory in Beijing, China, and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.