Lenore was born in Detroit and began private violin studies as a young child after her talent was immediately recognized in violin class by her elementary school violin teacher. She attended the prestigious Cass Technical High School where she majored in vocational music and was subsequently awarded a full scholarship to the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Ms. Vardi is able to count amongst her teachers some of the most illustrious soloists, concertmasters, and pedagogues in the string world including Steven Staryk, Andor Toth, Joseph Silverstein, and Eric Rosenblith. She earned her BM degree in violin performance from Oberlin College, and MM degree in violin performance and chamber music from Sarah Lawrence College as a scholarship student of the world renowned pedagogue, Dorothy Delay. After graduate school, Lenore coached for many years with Emanuel Vardi on the viola and , for many years, was an active viola soloist throughout Europe, Canada, and the United States.

Dedicating herself primarily to duo sonata performance and chamber music, Lenore has also coached with many stellar performers in those genres including pianist, Leonard Shure, Eugene Lehner and Rudolf Kolisch of the famed Kolisch Quartet, Andor Toth of the Hungarian Quartet, and Rotuslav Dubinsky of the Borodin Quartet.

She has participated in numerous music festivals throughout the world including the Aspen Festival, the Young Artists Program at the Tanglewood Festival, Yellow Barn Music Domaine Forget Music Festival in Quebec, Canada, and the Westchester Chamber Music Festival, which she directed and co-founded.

Lenore gave her solo recital debut in New York’s Merkin Hall in 1982, and was hailed by critic Robert Kimball of the New York Post, as “a violinist of amazing elegance and musicianship…a natural performer.” She has appeared in recital around the world, and has been a member of numerous chamber groups and ensembles in the Northeast including Musica Sacra, Philharmonia Virtuosi, New York Pops Orchestra, Queens Symphony, Portland Symphony, the Laurentian String Quartet, the Amacorda String Quartet, the Vardi Duo, the Vardi Tapia Duo, and the Westchester Soloists. As a soloist, she has performed live on radio stations WQXR and WNCN in New York, CBC Radio in Canada, and BBC Radio in England, and has performed and recorded with such outstanding artists as Placido Domingo, Michaela Petrie, and Itzhak Perlman. In 1988, she made her London debut in recital at the Royal Academy of Music, and she made her Canadian recital debut the following year at the Domaine Forget Music Festival.

Since that time, Ms. Vardi has appeared in countless recitals and chamber music performances, and with her husband, violist Emanuel Vardi, she co-founded the Westchester Chamber Music Festival, and the Vardi Violin and Viola Duo, playing to audiences world-wide.

One of the busiest recording musicians in NYC, Ms. Vardi has performed and recorded regularly with numerous stellar names in jazz such as Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughn, and Tony Bennet.

Lenore Vardi is also an accomplished visual artist who loves painting abstract renditions of musical instruments. She has been represented by many galleries throughout the US.

“I have found that some of the most interesting shapes can be found in musical instruments, and because of my background in music, I feel inspired to create abstracts using not only my chosen instrument, but many others that are so striking in their beauty. My goal is to depict these shapes in interesting combinations, colors, and textures, while also depicting the softness, vibrancy, and beauty of the music that they are capable of producing.”

Lenore Vardi remains passionately involved in painting and performing as a violinist in recital and chamber music.
She currently resides in Cedar Falls, IA with her music loving cocker spaniel, Livvy.