Astonishing in her musical versatility, violinist Qing Li brings great warmth, poise, and insight to her music making. Li is the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s Principal Second Violin, appointed by Yuri Temirkanov in 2000 upon winning the audition, and is frequently featured as a soloist with the BSO. Other solo engagements have included   the Butterfly Lovers Concerto at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, the Haydn violin concerto with the Richmond Symphony and the Bach Double Concerto with Hilary Hahn to name a few. Li is a Piatigorsky Foundation Artist, a much sought-after recitalist, chamber musician, and guest concertmaster and principal appearances both locally and internationally. Noted performances in that capacity with orchestras like the Iceland Symphony in Reykjavik and the Singapore Symphony to name a few. Her last featured solo performances with the BSO was Vivaldi’s Winter in 2018 fall under the direction of Maestro Nicholas McGegan. Throughout the great cities of America, South America, Europe and Asia, her broadcast appearances include television  stations  in  US, Germany and China and a biography on Voice Of America. Notable reviews for Qing Li include the Baltimore Sun, ‘the highest level musically’. . . ‘unsurpassed technical brilliance,’ The German Hohenlohe News, ‘excelled with ethereal play,’ and the Richmond Times, ‘her style was impeccable.’ She is also a member of the three-time Emmy Award winner,   The All-Star Orchestra on PBS.

On top of her being a veteran member of the BSO for over 25 years and served under three music directors including her current music director, Marin Alsop. Li is also currently a violin faculty artist at her alma mater, the Peabody Institute of Music at the Johns Hopkins University. She has been the violin faculty artist of the NYO-China, since their 2017 inaugural season’s debut concert at the Carnegie Hall. She gives masterclasses and is active in International Festivals throughout US, Asia, Europe, South America, and Russia. She has always felt that teaching is her way of repaying the kindness shown to her by her mentors.

Born in Beijing China, Li began violin studies at age 4 with her father. At age 12,  Qing Li was accepted to the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. There she was discovered at a master class by Berl Senofsky, Based on a prize-winning Sibelius Violin Concerto performance at the first Beijing International Violin Competition, Mr. Senofsky brought her to the renowned Peabody Conservatory of Music, where she was granted a full scholarship and won the Marbury violin competition. Li has also studied with Herbert Greenberg and Sylvia Rosenberg. After graduating from Peabody she studied with the legendary Joseph Gingold in Bloomington Indiana. Under David Zinman’s directorship, Li won her first position in the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, playing on a $100 Chinese violin, which was a gift from her father before coming to America.

She now performs on her 1736 Neopolitain instrument made by Nicolo Gagliano.

Click here to read Qing Li’s bio in Chinese.

Qing Li was featured as the soloist and the guest concertmaster with the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Julien Benichou for MSO’s New Years Eve’s concert on December 31, 2019, at Christ Church in Easton, MD.