JAVS Spring 2010

F RESH F ACES S COTT S LAPIN : C HARTING H IS O WN C OURSE

by David M. Bynog

2008 was a banner year for Scott Slapin. His composition Recitative for Solo Viola was commissioned for the Primrose International Viola Competition as the required con temporary work. Later that year, he released his recording of Paganini’s 24 Caprices transcribed for viola to critical acclaim, only the second violist to record the complete cycle. And while Slapin’s reputation con tinues to increase as both a com poser and recording artist, he main tains a full-time career as an orches tral musician. I had a chance to chat with Scott about his multi faceted career. DMB: You graduated with your Bachelor’s in Viola Performance from the Manhattan School of Music at the relatively young age of eighteen. Tell us a little about your background on the viola. SS: My father plays the double bass, and my mother played the cello, so I suppose it’s natural that my parents wanted me to play the viola since it was next in line. Though my mother’s plan all along was for me to play the viola, I actu ally started on violin when I was six, and at eight I switched to the viola. I studied the viola privately for about five years each with Barbara Barstow and then with

Scott Slapin (left) with Tanya Solomon

Emanuel Vardi. I also studied a year with Sally Peck at the North Carolina School of the Arts prior to my time at the Manhattan School.

eral orchestras in New Jersey and was played in the New Jersey State Theater when I was fourteen. I fig ured I should stop while I was ahead, and ever since I’ve written mainly for the viola, sometimes with other strings. DMB: So, do you see yourself in the once-very-popular role of performer/composer? SS: I’m not sure I would have phrased it that way, but I’ll say yes. These days when I write, it’s almost always something for my wife, Tanya, and me to play. We just did a recital of all my own pieces for my thirty-fifth birthday. I’m also in the process of arranging my Suite for two violas and string

DMB: And how did your interest in composing come about?

SS: I remember as a kid playing the overture to Wagner’s Die Meistersinger in the New Jersey Youth Symphony and marveling at how Wagner put that all together. Slowly I started to write music on my own, and around twelve or so I started to take lessons with Richard Lane. At first I was trying to write orchestral pieces (somewhat in imi tation of what we were playing in the youth orchestra). I wrote a big piece that made the rounds of sev

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