"If any contemporary violist continues to carry the torch of the composer-performer, it is Scott Slapin" (Journal of the American Viola Society) Scott Slapin is one of the leading violist-composers of his generation, and his solo and chamber compositions have been performed by hundreds of violists in recital halls throughout the world as well as at major competitions/workshops including the ARD, Primrose, and Tertis. A former artist in residence at the American Viola Society and the Montalvo Arts Center in California, Scott served as a committee member, judge, and performer for the inaugural Maurice Gardner Composition Competition and has been commissioned by the American Viola Society and the Primrose International Viola Competition. Many of his Neo-Romantic violacentric recital compositions can be heard on ten-plus albums by the Slapin-Solomon Viola Duo, the Wistaria String Quartet, the Penn State Viola Ensemble, Viola Around the World, Pioneer Valley Strings, and the American Viola Quartet.
"Slapin is a real viola virtuoso..." (American Record Guide) Scott is featured as soloist and chamber musician on dozens of recordings and was the first person to record the complete cycle of J.S. Bach's Sonatas and Partitas on viola. He can be heard playing solo Bach, Paganini Caprices, and some of his own compositions on various soundtracks for film and TV, 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 and Tanya have expanded the repertoire for two violas through many premieres, their own pioneering arrangements, and Scott's compositions, and their duo albums have garnered praise in Strad, the New York Violist, the All Music Guide, and the Journals of the American and Canadian Viola Societies. Scott's solo recordings have received critical acclaim in the American Record Guide, Fanfare, Mundo Clásico, Musical Opinion, and Strad.
Scott was born into a family of string players in 1974. At eighteen he was one of the youngest graduates of the Manhattan School of Music. Scott performed daily as the solo violist for the New York City production of Orpheus In Love, gave countless recitals, soloed with and wrote for orchestras, and saw much of the US and South America playing in ensembles including the symphony orchestras in Cincinnati and São Paulo and the Philadelphia Virtuosi, in which he and Tanya met in 1999. Displaced by Hurricane Katrina from their home in New Orleans, where they were tenured members of the city's orchestra, Scott and Tanya taught at several colleges and academies in the Northeast, settling in western Massachusetts in 2012. They have taught viola and violin lessons online for more than a decade, reaching people on five continents via Skype. Scott also teaches composition and music theory. For more information, please visit violaduo.com.
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