Peter Slowik
(1998-2002)
Profiled by the Strad magazine as “a man of limitless energy and purpose – he mentors high achievers who make their mark in top positions the world over,” Peter Slowik is one of the world’s most sought-after artist-teachers of viola. He has been a featured performer and teacher at seven International Viola Congresses, and has recorded on the Deutsche Grammophon, deutsche harmonia mundi/BMG, American Grammophone, Erato and Cedille labels. Mr. Slowik has performed with William Preucil, Anner Bylsma, and Leonard Rose, the Mirecourt Trio, the Jasper, Arianna, Saint Petersburg and Vermeer Quartets, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, and members of the Cleveland, Chester, Orford, and Smithson quartets. Past orchestral associations include service as Principal Violist of the Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra, Concertante di Chicago, and the American Sinfonietta. Between 1986 and 1999 Slowik performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and was solo violist at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. He has taught master classes in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, England, Europe, New Zealand, and most of the significant US conservatories
Mr. Slowik is Robert W. Wheeler Professor of Viola at Oberlin Conservatory, and also Artistic Director for Credo Music. Past teaching posts include Northwestern University, Indiana University, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the Eastman School of Music. He has been named to the highest teaching awards at both Oberlin (Teaching Excellence Award 2009) and Northwestern, (the McCormick Professorship for Teaching Excellence 1999). In 2002 Mr. Slowik was the recipient of the Maurice Riley Viola Award from the American Viola Society for “outstanding teaching, scholarship, and performance.”
His viola students have won first prize in numerous competitions, including the ASTA National Solo Competition, the Johannsen International Competition, the Ohio and Chicago Viola Society Solo Competitions, the Juilliard Concerto Competition, and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Slowik students may be found in virtually every significant professional orchestra in the US (many serving in titled positions) and in university appointments throughout the country.