“If any contemporary violist continues to carry the torch of the composer-performer, it is Scott Slapin.” -Journal of the American Viola Society
“Slapin’s magnificient playing says ‘Bring it on!’” -Fanfare
“Scott Slapin is great!” -Ruggiero Ricci
“well-designed music…emotionally expressive and varied” -New Jersey Star Ledger
“The virtuosity and musicality of Scott Slapin’s performances…surely cannot be improved upon.” -Musical Opinion
“Slapin is a real viola virtuoso…” -American Record Guide
Violist-composer Scott Slapin is a featured soloist and chamber musician on dozens of recordings, and with his wife, violist Tanya Solomon, he has been concertizing as the award-winning Slapin-Solomon Viola Duo for more than twenty years. Scott's solo and chamber compositions have been performed by hundreds of musicians throughout the world in concert halls and at major competitions/workshops including the ARD, Primrose, and Tertis. Scott is the first person to have recorded the complete cycle of J.S. Bach's Sonatas and Partitas on viola and can be heard playing solo Bach, Paganini Caprices and his own compositions on various soundtracks for film and TV. Many of his more than sixty Neo-Romantic recital compositions can be heard on nine albums recorded by the Slapin-Solomon Viola Duo, the Wistaria String Quartet, the Penn State Viola Ensemble, and the American Viola Quartet. Scott served as committee member, judge, and performer for the inaugural Maurice Gardner Composition Competition and has been commissioned by the Primrose International Viola Competition and the American Viola Society. He is a former artist in residence at the American Viola Society and former fellow at the Montalvo Arts Center in California.
Scott was born into a family of string players in 1974. He studied violin/viola with Barbara Barstow and Emanuel Vardi and composition with Richard Lane. At eighteen, he was one of the youngest graduates of the Manhattan School of Music and was performing daily as the solo violist for the 1992-1993 New York City (Circle Repertory Theater) production of Gerald Busby's Orpheus In Love, a chamber opera about a *viola-playing Orpheus*. He premiered Busby's Muse for Solo Viola in Carnegie's Weill Hall, gave countless solo recitals, performed frequently as a chamber musician, wrote for and soloed with orchestras, and gained orchestral experience playing regularly with the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops and as principal violist with the Knoxville (Tenn.) Symphony and Chamber Orchestras. Scott and Tanya met in 1999 as the viola section of the Philadelphia Virtuosi, toured South America with Brazil's São Paulo State Symphony and became tenured members of the Louisiana Philharmonic in New Orleans. Following the flooding of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, they participated in benefit concerts as soloists, duo recitalists, and with the New York Philharmonic. They have taught at several academies and colleges, given many recitals, and expanded the repertoire for two violas through world premieres, their own pioneering arrangements, and Scott's compositions.
Scott and Tanya live in South Hadley, Massachusetts. They have taught viola/violin privately for decades and reached students on five continents via Skype. Scott also teaches composition and music theory. For information on taking private lessons with Scott or Tanya, please click here. During the COVID pandemic of 2020, Scott transformed his recital series 'Greatest Hits from the Twenties' into an online educational presentation and recorded a series of 'COVID Concerts', which can be heard on Scott and Tanya's YouTube channel. Scott's solo recordings have received critical acclaim in the American Record Guide, Fanfare, Mundo Clásico, Strad, and Musical Opinion. The Slapin-Solomon Viola Duo's albums have garnered praise in Strad, the New York Violist, the All Music Guide, and the Journals of the American and Canadian Viola Societies.
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“…great talent not only as a violist but as a composer” -Journal of the American Viola Society
“Quite impressive… the work was well stated and at times very moving.” -The Home News (NJ)
“first rate viola virtuoso…” -Journal of the Canadian Viola Society
“instrumentista exceptional” -Mundo Clasico
“wonderful playing… sonorous and rich” -The New York Violist
“tonal and rhythmic command” -Strad Magazine
Scott demonstrating a Paganini Caprice on
the viola during a masterclass at the
Hartt School of Music.
Scott and Tanya giving a class on the
Bach Chaconne at the Lyra Festival and
Workshop at Smith College.
The Slapin-Solomon Duo premiering Scott’s
Four Seasons of New England at the
Gaylord Library in South Hadley, MA.
Scott performing his own piece, Capricious, with Tanya Solomon and Ila Rondeau at the 2012 Viola Congress in Rochester, NY. (photo by Dwight Pounds)
Composers Forum at the 2008 Viola Congress in Tempe, AZ. From left to right: Moderator James DeMars and composers Scott Slapin, Bruce E. Miller, and Kenji Bunch.
Scott premiering Rachel Matthews’ Dreams at the 2010 Viola Congress in Cincinnati, OH (with composer).
(photo by Dwight Pounds)
The Wistaria String Quartet recording an album of
Scott’s music.
Scott at Penn State coaching the viola ensemble, giving a masterclass, and playing a recital.
A recital at the Williston Northampton
School where Scott taught violin and viola and
coached the ensemble.
Slapin on the campus of Mt. Holyoke College where he taught viola and coached chamber music.
Scott presenting his educational series 'Greatest Hits from the Twenties' for Ron Houston's teaching studio in Texas.
Performing Elliot Corner’s Energico for solo viola
in Amherst, MA.
