Canadian violinist Maria van der Sloot enjoys a diverse career as a performer and educator. She has been a grand prizewinner in chamber music at the Canadian Music Competition and a finalist in the National Music Festival, and she has appeared as soloist with the Calgary Philharmonic and National Arts Centre Orchestra. She has performed extensively throughout North America, including for Music for Food, NPR’s From the Top, the Boston Symphony Prelude series, the Virginia Arts Festival, the Berkeley Piano Club, and the Calgary Philharmonic Emerging Artists series, and she has participated in the Banff, Orford, Tanglewood, and Morningside Music Bridge summer festivals. She has worked closely with members of the Cleveland, Borromeo, Concord, Kronos, St. Lawrence, Juilliard, and Telegraph Quartets and performed alongside artists including Dimitri Murrath, Pierre Amoyal, Eugene Izotov, James Ehnes, and Gil Kalish.
Ms. van der Sloot received her B.M. (Honours) from the New England Conservatory of Music, as recipient of the Vernon Scholarship, and her M.M. (Distinction) at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, as recipient of the Osher, Schorr, and Hoefer Scholarships. Her primary mentors include Donald Weilerstein, Ian Swensen, and Cordula Merks, and she is grateful for graduate support from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. In 2019, she joined the first violins of the Calgary Philharmonic and in 2020 was appointed concertmaster of the Calgary Civic Symphony. Equally passionate about chamber music and new music, Ms. van der Sloot joined the acclaimed Land’s End Ensemble in 2022.
A dedicated pedagogue, Ms. van der Sloot is on faculty at the Mount Royal University Conservatory, Calgary Music Academy, and the Valhalla Summer School of Music, and she has worked extensively with El Sistema programs across North America to provide equitable access to music education. In her spare time, she can be found in a kitchen, garden, or along the nearest body of water.