Violist Teng Li is an internationally celebrated soloist, chamber musician, and recording artist, hailed for her “burnished sound and elegant command of phrasing” (New York Times) and “a musical personality that mesmerizes the ear” (BBC Music). In September 2023, Li was appointed to The Paul Hindemith Principal Viola Chair of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by Music Director Emeritus for Life, Riccardo Muti, a post she assumes at the beginning of the 2024/25 season. Previously, she was principal viola of the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 2018 to 2024 and served for fourteen seasons as principal viola of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Recognized as a “dazzlingly virtuosic” soloist (Los Angeles Times), she has appeared with premier ensembles throughout the world including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, National Chamber Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Shanghai Opera Symphony Orchestra, and Esprit Orchestra. Most recently, she was featured in acclaimed performances of Paganini’s Sonata per la Grand Viola with Lina González-Granados and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, as well as in Kancheli’s Styx with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic led by Alexander Mickelthwate.
Li is an ardent chamber musician, with notable past engagements at the Marlboro, Santa Fe Chamber, Rome Chamber, and Moritzburg music festivals, Chamber Music Northwest, La Jolla Music Society SummerFest, ChamberFest Cleveland, and the prestigious Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society Two program. She has performed at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and the 92nd Street “Y” Chamber Music Society in New York, and collaborated with the Guarneri Quartet, joining the ensemble in concerts during the quartet’s final season in 2008/09. She is a founding member of the Rosamunde Quartet, together with violinists Noah Bendix-Balgley and Shanshan Yao and cellist Nathan Vickery, with whom she has given performances and masterclasses throughout the United States and Canada.
Li’s probing interpretations of chamber works can be heard on several critically acclaimed recordings, among them 1939, her solo album for Azica Records with violinist Benjamin Bowman and pianist Meng-Chieh Liu. Her discography also includes recording credits with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Toronto Symphony, most notably on the latter’s JUNO Award–winning Vaughan Williams album for Chandos, which features Li in a “ravishing” (CBC Music) performance of Flos Campi.
Li has won top prizes at the Johansen International Competition, the Holland-America Music Society Competition, the Primrose International Viola Competition, the Klein International String Competition, and the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, Germany.
A committed educator, Li has taught at the Colburn School, University of Toronto, Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, and joins the faculty of Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performance Arts in the 2024/25 academic year.
Li is a graduate of the Central Conservatory in Beijing, China, and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she studied with Michael Tree, Joseph de Pasquale, and Karen Tuttle.