Daniel Sweaney

About Daniel

Dr. Sweaney has held faculty positions at the Sewanee Summer Music Center, the Interlochen Viola Institute, the North American Viola Institute at the Orford Arts Centre, the Rocky Ridge Music Center, Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, and the University of Alabama. He has given masterclasses at the University of Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Bowling Green State University, Louisiana State University, Texas Tech University, Brandeis University, the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana Cuba, the National Orchestra Festival, and has been a guest artist at the South Carolina Viola Intensive. His students have received fellowships to the Aspen Music Festival and scholarships to the Quartet Program, Brevard Music Center, Eastern Music Festival, Kent Blossom, Hot Springs, National Music Festival, Texas Music Festival, and the AIMS Graz Festival.

While living in Austria, he performed regularly with the Camerata Salzburg at such venues and festivals as, the Salzburg Festival, Vienna Konzerthaus and Musikverein, Singapore Arts Festival, The Beethoven House in Bonn, Lincoln Center’s Great Performers Series, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Orchestra Hall in Chicago. He has performed at the International Viola Congresses in Krakow Poland, Porto Portugal, and Rochester, NY. Daniel Sweaney performs regularly as a duo with violinist Annette- Barbara Vogel. Their first recording Violin Viola Duos Through the Centuries was described by American Record Guide as “superior playing and a gorgeously recorded performance.”

Daniel Sweaney studied at the Interlochen Arts Academy, The Cleveland Institute of Music, Rice University, and the Universität Mozarteum, Salzburg. His major teachers include Heidi Castleman, Thomas Riebl, Roger Tapping, Geraldine Walther, Martha Strongin Katz, and Erika Eckert. He is currently Associate Professor of viola at the University of South Carolina.

My goal is to teach my students how to teach themselves, by developing good practice habits, learning how to listen, how to be constructively critical of one self, how be self disciplined, and how to problem solve. My hope and aspiration for all my students is that one day I will no longer be needed and they can function on their own as proficient well rounded musicians.