TRAVIS URBAN

Travis Urban is an American violist, string educator, and researcher based in The Hague, the Netherlands. A native of College Station, Texas, he holds bachelor's degrees in history from Texas A&M University, where he specialized in early modern European history, and in music from Sam Houston State University, where he studied viola with Dawson White. He also earned a master's degree in music education from the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague, where he studied with Liesbeth Steffens and Ásdís Valdimarsdóttir. His research focused on neglected eighteenth-century viola repertoire, and he recently prepared and published a new edition of a previously forgotten viola concerto by Jan HataŠ with Edition Offenburg.

A certified teacher, he has extensive experience directing school orchestras, maintaining a successful private studio of violin and viola students, and adjudicating regional music competitions. He currently teaches middle school and high school string orchestra at the American School of The Hague, where he founded the ASH Fall Strings Festival, an annual event that brings together students from international schools across the region. Before relocating to the Netherlands, Travis taught middle school string orchestra in Texas from 2015 to 2021.

An active performer, Travis is equally at home as an orchestral musician, chamber player, and soloist. He served as principal violist of the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra from 2016 to 2021. He founded the College Station String Quartet in 2009, which has performed throughout Texas in repertoire ranging from classical works to his own arrangements of pop, jazz, swing, and salon music. Travis has also appeared in chamber concerts and festivals across the United States, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. In addition, he has performed as a solo violinist in numerous stage productions and currently plays viola with The Hague's baroque ensemble, the New Dutch Academy.

Outside of teaching and performing, Travis enjoys baking, traveling, and championing overlooked works from the eighteenth-century string repertoire.