Travis Maril

Praised for his “apt eloquence” and “persuasive, stylish ardor” (San Diego Story), violist Travis Maril is an accomplished chamber musician and innovative pedagogue. As violist of the Hyperion Quartet, he was a top-prize winner at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and performed on NPR’s Performance Today. His chamber music collaborators have included members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Miró Quartet, and principal players of the Cleveland Orchestra, LA Phil, Dallas, San Diego and Pittsburgh Symphonies.

In 2021 Travis won the gold medal in the Violympics, an online competition of over a hundred violinists and violists organized by Boston Symphony Concertmaster Nathan Cole, with a panel of judges including Augustin Hadelich, James Ehnnes and Gil Shaham. Festival appearances include La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest, Schleswig-Holstein, Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, Ojai, the Banff Institute and Mainly Mozart.

In Fall 2025 Travis begins an appointment as Assistant Professor of Viola at the University on New Mexico. Prior to that Travis taught at San Diego State University’s School of Music and Dance for nearly two decades. During his time at SDSU he performed as soloist with the SDSU Symphony Orchestra in Vaughan Williams’ Flos Campi and Paganini’s Sonata for the Grand Viola. At SDSU Travis co-founded the String Academy, a pre-college program for string students. He was awarded Outstanding SDSU Music Faculty Member in 2021.

Travis writes regularly on topics in string pedagogy on his blog, String Theory. Since 2021 he has led online workshops and educational programs through his website www.travis-maril.com, working with hundreds of violists from all over the world.

Travis Maril earned his degrees at the University of Southern California and Rice University. He studied with Donald McInnes, Ralph Fielding, Karen Ritscher, Che-Yen Chen and Nathan Cole.