Daniel Foster

Appointed Fall 1995

Violist Daniel Foster's varied career encompasses orchestral, chamber and solo playing, as well as teaching. Since capturing the First Prize in both the William Primrose and Washington International Competitions, he has appeared in recital and as soloist with orchestra in Washington, D.C. and throughout the United States. As Principal Violist of the National Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Foster has performed with the orchestra frequently as soloist. These performances included the premiere of a recently discovered transcription of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto, conducted by Christopher Hogwood at the Kennedy Center Mozart Festival, as well as performances of Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante and Strauss' Don Quixote. Mr. Foster's most recent appearance as soloist with the National Symphony came in November 2001 with performances of Hindemith's Kammermusik #5.

Mr. Foster has been a member of the Manchester Quartet since 1993, and has appeared frequently as a guest artist on several chamber music series. He spent four summers at the renowned Marlboro Music Festival, collaborating with some of this country's most esteemed chamber musicians, and toured the United States on two occasions with Music from Marlboro. He has also performed at the Bowdoin, Killington and Alpenglow festivals.

After Studying with Jeffrey Irvine and Lynne Ramsey at Oberlin Conservatory and with Karen Tuttle at The Curtis Institute, Mr. Foster became a member of the National Symphony's viola section in 1993, and was appointed Principal by Music Director Leonard Slatkin in 1995. Mr. Foster is on the faculty at the University of Maryland, where his former students have gone on to major orchestral and university positions, and he joined the faculty of the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival in 1999. Mr. Foster has given master classes at Oberlin Conservatory and the University of Michigan, and is a regular faculty member for the National Orchestral Institute, a pre-professional orchestral training program of the University of Maryland School of Music. The Journal of the American Viola Society will publish an article by Mr. Foster later this year.

Mr. Foster comes from a musical family. His father William is the National Symphony's Associate Principal violist, and his grandfather John Kendall is an internationally renowned violin pedagogue.