Violist Scott Rawls has appeared as soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, and Europe. Recent chamber music endeavors include performances with Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Branford Marsalis, Sergey Antonov, and Michelle Cann. With the Nikkanen/Rawls/Bailey string trio, he has played tours in Alaska, Washington, Arizona and Texas. His solo and chamber music recordings can be heard on the Centaur, CRI, Nonesuch, Capstone, and Philips labels.
A strong proponent of new music, Rawls has premiered dozens of new works by prominent composers. Most notable, he has toured extensively as a member of Steve Reich and Musicians. As the violist in this ensemble, he performed the numerous premieres of Daniel Variations, The Cave, and Three Tales by Steve Reich and Beryl Korot, videographer. And under the auspices of presenting organizations such as the Wiener Festwochen, Festival d’Automne a Paris, Holland Festival, Berlin Festival, Spoleto Festival USA and the Lincoln Center Festival, he has performed in major music centers around the world including London, Vienna, Rome, Milan, Tokyo, Prague, Amsterdam, Brussels, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York.
He plays principal viola in the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra—for the last twenty years, under the baton of maestro Dmitry Sitkovetsky. During the summer season, Rawls plays principal in the festival orchestra at Brevard Music Center where he also coordinates the viola program. He was also recently appointed principal viola of the Palm Beach Opera orchestra, David Stern artistic director.
Dr. Rawls currently serves as Professor of Viola and Chamber Music at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He holds a BM degree from Indiana University and a MM and DMA from State University of New York at Stony Brook. His major mentors include Abraham Skernick, Georges Janzer, John Graham and Julius Levine.