Vali Phillips joined the Minnesota Orchestra in 1997, served as principal second violin for his first 11 seasons, and in September 2008 joined the Orchestra’s first violin section. He made his solo debut with the Orchestra performing Bruch’s First Violin Concerto in 2001, and he has since performed Dvořák’s Romance, the Summer concerto from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and, in 2007, Bach’s Double Violin Concerto with First Associate Concertmaster Sarah Kwak. During Sommerfest 2004 he played Shostakovich’s Trio in E minor with André Watts.

Before coming to Minnesota, Phillips served as concertmaster of the Savannah Symphony Orchestra and associate concertmaster of both the Erie Philharmonic and the Charleston Symphony. He has appeared as soloist with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as in recital at Carnegie Hall. He spent two summers at the Tanglewood Festival and has performed at the Grand Teton Music Festival.

Phillips is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where he studied under Charles Castleman. He began his musical training at Project STEP (String Training and Education Program), a non-profit program for minority children in his native Boston. Joining the program in its first year, Phillips studied with the project’s artistic director, Farhoud Moshfegh. Phillips gave a benefit recital for the project several years ago at the New England Conservatory.

With three colleagues from the Minnesota Orchestra, Phillips was a founding member of the Minneapolis Quartet.