Teacher Profile: Tong Li

About Tong Li

Born in Qingdao, Tong started playing the violin as a hobby at the age of 5. She won numerous prizes in the Greater Cleveland area - twice a prize winner of the Cleveland CPEA talent scholarship competition and was a soloist with the Lakeland Civic Orchestra. She studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Preparatory Division, where, upon her graduation, she was the co-recipient of the string player award of her class.

Tong has attended the Interlochen Summer Arts Camp, Brevard Music Festival, the Orchestra of AIMs in Graz, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra Summer Orchestra Institute. She has served as Assistant Principal of Second Violins of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra and the Eastman Philharmonia, Assistant Concertmaster of the Brevard Music Center Orchestra, and Principal Second of the Brevard Sinfonia. She loves performing contemporary music and was part of Eastman Musica Nova. She has performed in masterclasses for Ani Kavafian, Frank Huang, Gary Levinson, and Miho Saegusa. Tong regularly plays with Symphoria (formerly known as the Syracuse Symphony), and is an Associate Member of the Chicago Civic Orchestra for the 2020-2021 season.

Aside from performances, Tong also enjoys teaching. She is a mentor to the Maryland Classical Youth Orchestra violin section and has worked with private students and ROCmusic where she conducted sectionals for inner-city Rochester students.

Tong is the Chamber Music Graduate Assistant at the University of Maryland, working towards her Masters of Music degree with Dr. James Stern. She studied under the tutelage of Renee Jolles at Eastman School of Music for her Bachelor's degree. Her previous teachers include Vladimir Deninzon of the Cleveland Orchestra and Alla Aranovskaya of the St. Petersburg Quartet.