Violinist and Violist Shannon Elliott is an active freelance musician in the Greater New York City area. Ms. Elliott’s professional career has a diverse list of accomplishments over a wide range of musical genres. In 2018, she was the violist for the Off-Broadway production of Comfort Women at Playwrights Horizons, which was her introduction into the musical theater world. Following the closing of the show she developed a larger interest in theater, and was the violist for NYU’s revival of the Broadway show Rags as well as Principal Second Violin in their production of Gypsy. In the classical realm, Ms. Elliott held the positions of section viola and Assistant Principal viola in the Garden State Philharmonic for two seasons. Since then, she has performed regularly with the Asian Cultural Symphony of the USA, the Livingston Symphony Orchestra, and has also been involved in productions with several local opera companies on both violin and viola. During her time in these orchestras she had the opportunity to perform on the elite stages of Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall, the 92 Street Y, the Strand Theater with the Atlantic City Ballet, and the Bohemian National Hall. Ms. Elliott is an avid participant in contemporary ensembles with music by local composers, and has premiered 15 new works in the past year. Her most recent projects have included premiering the work of the winner of the 2019 Manhattan Prize for string quartet composition, as well as collaborating with the Femmelody Chamber Music Collective (which advocates for music by women and minorities.) Additionally, Ms. Elliott has worked in some of NYC’s premiere studios to record string tracks for artists ranging from local collectives to pop music groups, such as U2.
A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, Ms. Elliott holds a Bachelor of Music in Viola Performance. Ms. Elliott is currently pursing a Master of Music degree in String Studies at New York University under the tutelage of Karen Ritscher (viola) and Kurt Nikkanen (violin), and was a finalist in the 2019 NYU String Concerto Competition. In 2014, her quartet was selected as a winner of the Fuchs Chamber Music Competition at the Manhattan School of Music. During the course of her studies, she worked with several renowned conductors and ensembles such as Maestro Kurt Masur, Maestro Osmo Vanska, Maestro Perry So, the American String Quartet, and the Ying Quartet. She has also performed in masterclasses for violist/composer Garth Knox and violist Heidi Castleman.
