Teng Li (’05) Named Principal Violist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) has announced the appointment of renowned violist and Curtis alumna Teng Li (Viola ’05) as principal viola, effective September 15, 2024. Ms. Li will hold the Paul Hindemith Principal Viola Chair and succeeds Charles Pikler, who served as principal viola from 1986 until 2017, and Li-Kuo Chang, who held the assistant principal viola chair from 1988 until 2023, and served as acting principal viola from 2017 until his retirement in 2023. Ms. Li won the international audition for principal viola in May 2023 and was offered the position in September 2023 by Riccardo Muti, the CSO’s music director emeritus for life. Since then, she performed with the CSO as guest principal viola in appearances at Carnegie Hall and the critically hailed January 2024 European tour.

Ms. Li is currently principal viola of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, a position she has held since 2018. Before that, she was principal viola for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra for 14 seasons. She has also appeared with other premier ensembles throughout the world, including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, National Chamber Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Shanghai Opera Symphony Orchestra, and Esprit Orchestra.

A founding member of the Rosamunde String Quartet, Ms. Li has given performances and master classes through the U.S. and Canada with violinists Noah Bendix-Balgley and Shanshan Yao (’08) and cellist Nathan Vickery (’13). Originally from Nanjing, China, she is a graduate of the Central Conservatory in Beijing and Curtis, where she studied with late faculty members Michael Tree (’55), Joseph de Pasquale (’42), and Karen Tuttle (’48). A committed educator, Ms. Li has taught at the Colburn School, University of Toronto, Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, and Montreal’s Conservatoire de Musique, and will join the faculty of Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts in the 2024–25 academic year.

Visit Teng Li’s official website, and read the news at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s website HERE.

See Teng Li and the Rosamunde String Quartet at Curtis on March 13, 2025, at Field Concert Hall, as part of the 2024–25 Curtis Presents series. Learn more HERE.

Photo credits: Banner image and portrait of the artist (Bo Huang Photography). Photo of Ms. Li during a performance at Teatro alla Scala in Milan (Todd Rosenberg Photography). Photo of the Rosamunde String Quartet (Rob Davidson Photography).