Spells & Strings presented by the Georgia State Campus Orchestra

Professor Tania Maxwell Clements

Tania Maxwell Clements attained a BA in Music Performance (Viola) and a Certificate of Post-Graduate Studies (Viola Performance) from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where she studied viola with James Durrant. During her studies at the RCS she won the prestigious Watson Forbes Prize for Viola Playing and the Viola Challenge Prize. Her studies continued in Switzerland at the International Menuhin Music Academy (IMMA) for two consecutive years, working intensively with Alberto Lysy and Johannes Eskar. During this time she performed regularly with violinist Yehudi Menuhin and artists such as Igor Oistrakh and Donald McInnes. She was principal viola and soloist with the Camerata Lysy and performed as soloist at the Menuhin Festival, Gstaad and at festivals in France, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Wales.

Upon leaving the IMMA, Tania was invited to become a founding member of the Seville Symphony Orchestra (ROSS) in Spain and from there was invited to join the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in Manchester, England as Associate Principal Viola. Whilst working with the BBC, Tania also held the principal viola position with the Northern Symphony Orchestra and was invited to perform as guest principal with the Halle Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. During this time, she was also a founding member of the Wralle flute, viola and harp Trio and the Puligny String Quartet.

Over the years she has performed with many other orchestras including the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Scottish Orchestra (formerly the SNO), the BP Scottish Ensemble, the Scottish Opera Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the East of England Orchestra and the Royal Festival Orchestra. She has played at some of the world’s most prestigious venues including Covent Garden and the Royal Albert Hall in London, the Philharmonie in Berlin, Boston’s Symphony Hall, New York’sLincoln Center, La Scala Milan in Itay, the Musikverein in Vienna and Prague’s Dvorak Hall. After moving to Atlanta in 1998, she performed with the Atlanta Symphony, Charleston Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Savannah Philharmonic and Macon Symphony orchestras, the Atlanta Chamber Players, the Kopec String Quartet, Musica da Camera, the Lyra String Quartet, and the Vega Quartet.

Tania has a prolific recording career and appears on over one hundred CD’s (and hundreds more recordings) covering orchestral, solo and chamber repertoire. She is a strong supporter of new music for the viola and has personally commissioned many new works for her instrument.

She also has a very active career playing and recording with many rock bands and other artists, such as The Who, Bruce Springsteen, The Eagles, Natalie Cole, Common, and many Broadway artists.

Tania Maxwell Clements is also a master teacher. Before her distinguished career teaching at GSU, she taught orchestral techniques at Chethams School of Music (a Yehudi Menuhin School) and the Royal Northern College of Music in England and has also taught at the Junior Department of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.