Violinist Maria van der Sloot enjoys a diverse career of orchestral and chamber music performance. Born in Medicine Hat, Alberta, 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; most recently, she was awarded the Berkeley Piano Club’s 2018 Barbara Fritz Chamber Music Award as part of L’arc Trio. She has performed for Music for Food, NPR’s From the Top, the Boston Symphony Prelude series, the Virginia Arts Festival, and the Calgary Philharmonic Emerging Artists series, and she has participated in the Banff, Orford, Tanglewood, and Morningside Music Bridge summer festivals.
Van der Sloot is a graduate of the New England Conservatory and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she received her bachelor of music in violin performance and master of music in chamber music, respectively. 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. A dedicated teacher, she is currently on faculty at the Valhalla Summer School of Music, the Calgary Multicultural Orchestra, and the Calgary Music Academy. Away from the violin, she enjoys writing and running with her dogs.