2012 Viola Faculty

Teng Li, principal violist of the Toronto Symphony, joined the roster of Astral Artistic Services as a winner of its 2003 National Auditions. Astral presented her Philadelphia recital debut and featured her on its Rising Stars series at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. She also recently appeared under Astral's auspices with other Astral artists in Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, and gave concerto performances with both the Toronto Symphony and the Canadian Sinfonietta.

Ms. Li is the recipient of numerous awards, including First Prize at both the Johansen International and the Holland-America Music Society competitions, and Second Prize at the Primrose International Viola and Irving M. Klein International String competitions. She recently gave her Toronto recital debut at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Glenn Gould Studio, a performance that was also broadcast on the CBC. Chicago's WFMT Radio also broadcast her performance on Chicago's Dame Myra Hess concert series, on its Live from Studio 1 program. She has appeared with the National Chamber Orchestra and the Santa Rosa Symphony, and was presented in recital for the French Embassy in Beijing.

An accomplished chamber musician, Ms. Li is a member of Chamber Music Society Two of Lincoln Center, and has been a participant at the Marlboro Music Festival, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and the Music from Angel Fire festival. She recently performed at Germany's Moritzburg Chamber Music Festival, and appeared in chamber music performances at New York's 92nd Street Y (with the Guarneri Quartet) and Toronto's Glenn Gould Studio. She is also a member of Trio Morisot (with Astral flutist Jasmine Choi and Astral harpist Bridget Kibbey).

Ms. Li began playing the violin in her native China when she was five years old. At twelve she transferred her attention to the viola. She entered the Central Conservatory in Beijing in 1992, and by the age of sixteen was accepted to study at the Curtis Institute of Music, where she graduated in 2005. In the fall of 2006 Ms. Li joined the music faculty at the University of Toronto.