“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 in recital halls throughout the world and at major competitions/workshops including the ARD, Primrose, and Tertis; many can be heard on more than ten albums recorded by the Slapin-Solomon Viola Duo, the Wistaria String Quartet, the Penn State Viola Ensemble, Viola Around the World, the Pioneer Valley Strings, and the American Viola Quartet.
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 some of his own compositions on various soundtracks for film and TV. A former artist in residence at the American Viola Society and the Montalvo Arts Center in California, he 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. In addition to more than sixty violacentric recital works, he has written music for string quartet and orchestras of various sizes as well as etudes and divertimenti for beginning string players.
Born into a family of string players in 1974, Scott 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 he was performing daily as the solo violist for the 1992-1993 New York City production of Gerald Busby's violacentric Orpheus In Love. He premiered Busby's Muse for Solo Viola in Carnegie's Weill Hall, gave countless solo recitals, wrote for and soloed with orchestras, performed frequently as a chamber musician, and played in symphony orchestras from Cincinnati to São Paulo. Displaced in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina from their home in New Orleans, where they were tenured members of the city's orchestra, Scott and Tanya participated in Katrina relief concerts nationwide as soloists, duo recitalists, and with the New York Philharmonic. During the COVID pandemic of 2020, Scott transformed his recital series 'Greatest Hits from the Twenties' into an online educational presentation and made a series of unaccompanied, unedited 'COVID Concert' YouTube videos including the complete solo viola works of Hindemith, Reger, and Slapin.
Scott and Tanya live in South Hadley, Massachusetts. They maintain private viola and violin studios online and have reached students on five continents via Skype. Scott also teaches composition and music theory. Scott and Tanya have taught at several academies and colleges and expanded the repertoire for two violas through many premieres, their own pioneering arrangements, and Scott's compositions. 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.
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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.
