NEWS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AUGUST 11, 2023

2023 PIATIGORSKY FOUNDATION CONCERT FEATURES VIOLINIST QING LI AND PIANIST VLADIMIR VALJAREVIC

JEFFERSON, LA – Violinist Qing Li and pianist Vladimir Valjarevic will perform a concert at 7 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 12, at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon Ave., Metairie. 

The performance is free of charge and open to the public. There is no registration.

The Piatigorsky Foundation, nonprofit based in New York City, is the sponsoring organization for the concert. Since 1990, The Piatigorsky Foundation has presented more than 3,775 performances, introducing live classical music in communities throughout the country. Its artists play for audiences including seniors, schoolchildren, the economically disadvantaged, and those living in geographically remote areas.

The Piatigorsky Foundation is “dedicated to making live classical music an integral part of everyday life for communities throughout the United States.” Gregor Piatigorsky, the Russian cellist for whom the organization is named, believed that music is not a luxury for an elite few, but a necessity of life for all.

Violinist Qing Li

Born in Beijing, Li began violin studies at age four with her father. At age 12, Qing Li was accepted into 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, Senofsky brought her to the renowned Peabody Conservatory of Music, where she was granted a full scholarship and won the Marbury violin competition. Li won her first position in the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, playing 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.

Li is the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s Principal Second Violin, appointed by Yuri Temirkanov in 2000 upon winning the audition, and she is frequently featured as a soloist. Li is a much sought-after recitalist, chamber musician and guest concertmaster, recently performing in that capacity at the Iceland Symphony in Reykjavik. She is a member of the three-time Emmy Award winner, The All-Star Orchestra on PBS. 

Pianist Vladimir Valjarevic

Valjarevic studied in his native Bosnia, at Belgrade Conservatory in Serbia, Mannes School of Music, Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, and at Geneva Conservatory in Switzerland, where he was a Fulbright Scholar. His primary piano instructors are Pavlina Dokovska, Pascal Devoyon, Susan Starr and Planinka Jurisic-Atic. 

Valjarevic is on piano faculty at Mannes School of Music and Mason Gross School of the Arts and teaches piano pedagogy and literature at Mannes. His festival affiliations include Beijing International Music Festival and Academy, and Xi’an Music Festival in China, Round Top in Texas, IIYM in Kansas, IKIF in New York. 

For more information regarding this event, contact Chris Smith, Manager of Adult Programming for the library, at 504-889-8143 or wcsmith@jefferson.lib.la.us.

The Jefferson Parish Library system consists of 16 locations that stretch from the Lakeshore Branch on the edge of Lake Pontchartrain to the Grand Isle Branch just steps away from the Gulf of Mexico. The library system consists of two large regional libraries and seven branches on each side of the Mississippi River. The East Bank Regional Library (4747 West Napoleon Avenue, Metairie) serves as library headquarters. The Jefferson Parish Library is the second largest system in the state of Louisiana. More than 200 employees work for the Jefferson Parish Library including librarians, administration and support staff. For more information, contact the library at (504) 838-1100 or www.jefferson.lib.la.us.

For more information about Jefferson Parish, visit www.JeffParish.net. Residents can also receive regular updates by following the Parish on social media (@JeffParishGov) or by texting JPALERT or JPNOTICIAS to 888-777.

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