Hailed as both "vivacious" and "highly polished and finely tuned," violist Travis Maril is quickly gaining nationwide recognition as a chamber musician.  With the Hyperion String Quartet he won a top prize at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, had performances broadcast on NPR's Performance Today, and collaborated with chamber music luminaries including the Miro and Rossetti String Quartets and members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.  In addition, he has performed at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, Brooklyn Friends of Chamber Music, Mainly Mozart Festival, and for the La Jolla Music Society, among others.  As a soloist he has been a winner of the La Jolla Young Artist Competition and Aspen Concerto Competition, the latter win resulting in a performance of Walter Piston's Viola Concerto with the Aspen Academy Orchestra.  He has received fellowships to the Aspen and Bowdoin music festivals, and has also attended the Emerson String Quartet Workshop, New York String Seminar, Music Academy of the West, the Banff Institute, and the Quartet Program at Bucknell University.  He plays frequently with the San Diego and Pasadena Symphonies, and was a member of the viola section of the Tulsa Philharmonic Orchestra while still in high school.  Mr. Maril earned his B.A. magna cum laude from the University of Southern California's Thorton School of Music, where he was a Trustee Scholar and selected as an Outstanding Graduate, and his M.M. from Rice University's Shepherd School of Music.  His principal teachers have included Jeffrey Irvine, Ralph Fielding, Karen Ritscher, Brian Chen, and Donald McInnes.  Interested in teaching from an early age, Mr. Maril has been a viola and chamber music instructor at the Montana Chamber Music Workshop and is currently on faculty at San Diego State University.