A Little Lunch Music is an informal performance presented by Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art and musician Patrick McCurry, series coordinator. You can sit and listen to the entire performance, dine in the Museum Café from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., browse the shop, or explore the galleries.
On May 19 from noon to 1:00 pm, the series will present a free concert in the Grand Gallery by cellist Laura Usiskin with pianist Ting Li. The concert is being sponsored by Stephen and Leslie Swartz.
Cellist LAURA USISKIN has performed throughout North America and Europe in such venues as Alice Tully Hall, Weill Hall, Palazzo Chigi Saracini, Barge Music, and many others. Recent performances include concertos of Dvořák and Takemitsu with the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra and performances of the complete Bach Suites in Los Angeles and Connecticut. She has held orchestral positions with the New Haven Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, and is currently Principal Cello of the Orchestra Iowa.
From 2011 – 13, Ms. Usiskin served as Founder and Executive Director of the Montgomery Music Project, a program that provides intensive music instruction to underserved children in Montgomery. For more information, visit www.montgomerymusicproject.org. She currently resides in Birmingham, where she is on faculty at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, Birmingham-Southern College, and STEP Birmingham. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Neuroscience and Behavior from Columbia University, Master of Music from The Juilliard School, and Doctor of Musical Arts from the Yale School of Music.
In 2009, after receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Piano Performance and Vocal Performance at Sichuan Conservatory of Music in China, pianist TING LI was awarded full scholarship to New Mexico State University for a Master’s Degree in Piano Performance. With the encouragement and teaching by Dr. Laura Spitzer, Ting became the first Asian pianist to win the Music Teachers National Association southwest region piano competition. In 2012, with the recommendation of Professor Anita Pontremoli, Ting was admitted to the Collaborative Piano Department of the Cleveland Institute of Music. She actively performed in concerts and recording sessions and served on the piano faculty at music camps hosted by William Preucil (Concertmaster, The Cleveland Orchestra), and Richard Weiss (First Assist Principal Cello, The Cleveland Orchestra). In 2013, Ting was invited to perform at the Kent/Blossom Music Festival as the collaborative pianist for Antonio Lysy, Professor of Cello, University of California, Los Angeles.
