Valerie Little

Pennsylvania native Valerie Little became a tenured member of the Minnesota Orchestra in September 2015, after serving six seasons as acting assistant principal librarian. When she's not in the library, she enjoys serving the Orchestra on the Artistic Advisory Committee and hosting pre-concert talks.

Also an accomplished violist, Valerie has often performed with the Minnesota Orchestra, Minnesota Opera, Mill City Summer Opera, Orchestra Iowa, Florestan Chamber Music, Bach Roots Festival and with a number of regional singer/songwriters. She is an artist-in-residence at the annual Apollo Music Festival in Houston, Minnesota, where she also serves as librarian. She is also the violist for Mill City String Quartet, a six-time MPR Class Notes Artist, and past teaching artist through Schubert Club, Chamber Music Society of St. Cloud and Britt Festival in Jacksonville, Oregon. 

Valerie holds bachelor’s degrees in viola performance and English from Penn State University, a Master of Music degree in viola performance from the University of Texas-Austin, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in viola performance from the University of Minnesota.

In her non-musical time, she likes to travel, read, listen to podcasts about true crime and the supernatural, narrate life to her two amazing cats, and promote awareness and acceptance of BPD. Valerie is also a skilled writer whose non-fiction writing was twice-nominated for a 2020 Pushcart Prize. Her debut chapbook, Little Blue Primer, was one of seven finalists for the 16th Annual National Indie Excellence Award for Poetry.