(Poughkeepsie, NY) The Bardavon is pleased to continue the 50th anniversary season of the Hudson Valley Philharmonic with a program called: "Brilliantly Brahms" with HVP Principal Guest Conductor Elizabeth Schulze and featuring the 2009 winner of the HVP String Competition Li Lao performing one of the greatest works for violin and orchestra: Tchaikovsky's: Violin Concerto, op. 35, D major on Saturday, November 7th at 8pm at the Bardavon in Poughkeepsie.

The concert will also feature Mozart's Don Giovanni, K.527, Overture and Brahms Symphony no. 4, op. 98, E minor. Ticket holders are invited to a pre-concert talk with Maestro Schulze one hour prior to the performance.

Appointed to the position of HVP Principal Guest Conductor in 2008 and praised by critics as "an ideal music director whose infectious energy is as contagious as her exuberant and thoroughly committed musicianship," Elizabeth Schulze is currently the Music Director and Conductor of the Maryland Symphony Orchestra and the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Schulze has held the positions of Associate Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., Music Director and Conductor of the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra in Iowa, and, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, Assistant Conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic. Ms. Schulze also served as Music Director and Conductor of the Kenosha Symphony Orchestra in Wisconsin for seven seasons. In recent seasons, she has also been a conducting assistant and cover conductor for the New York Philharmonic.

Violinist Li Lao made her debut at age 7 in the largest hall in China-The Great Hall of the People Beijing, China. Li has taken lessons from Gidon Kremer, Ruggiero Ricci, Itzhak Perlman and Vadim Repin and has concertized all over China and North America as a recitalist and as a soloist with orchestras including Cincinnati Concert Orchestra, Cincinnati Philharmonic, Xiamen Symphony Orchestra, Beijing Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Youth Orchestra and many others.

Li has won several competitions, including First Prize of China Central Conservatory Violin Competition and the special prize for the Best Chinese Work Contestant in 2001; special prize for "The excellent young contestant" at the China (Qing Dao) International violin competition, 2005: China National Violin Art Competition, the National Violin Competition. She also won First Prize of the Great Wall International Music Academy Competition and College Conservatory of Music concerto competition in 2007.

As a participant in summer music festivals, Li won a full scholarship to attend "Itzhak Perlman's Music Academy", Meadowmount Summer Camp in New York and "Great Wall International Music Academy". As an orchestra musician, she has served as concertmaster and concertmaster assistant in the "Itzhak Perlman Music Academy", the "Great Wall International Academy" and "CCM Concert Orchestra".

Li Lao was born in China in 1987; she went to the Attached to the Central Conservatory of Music from 1998 to 2006. In September 2006, she won the full Starling scholarship to study at College Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati where she studied with Prof. Kurt Sassmannshaus. In September 2008, she received Merit scholarship as a special talented musician from the New England Conservatory of Music where she is currently studying.

Tickets for the Bardavon's presentation of the Hudson Valley Philharmonic "Brilliantly Brahms" with HVP Principal Guest Conductor Elizabeth Schulze on Saturday, November 7th at 8pm at the Bardavon, are available at various prices ranging from $24 to $44. Tickets are available at the Bardavon Box Office, 35 Market St., Poughkeepsie, (845) 473-2072 or by calling TicketMaster at (845) 454-3388. The Bardavon is handicapped accessible and has secure and convenient parking. For further information about the Bardavon or the Hudson Valley Philharmonic check: www.bardavon.org.