Profile

Violinist Chase Spruill has gained an international reputation as a performer of contemporary music with a particular focus on minimalist masters.  In 2020, BBC Music Magazine hailed his debut solo album of the music of British composer Michael Nyman, citing that,” Spruill plays with great spirit…and a great sense of presence…” as well as calling him “…an engaging and convincing advocate.”  He has a long-standing relationship to the music of Philip Glass and was listed in Strings Magazine as being one of the noteworthy interpreters of his music.  He appears multiple times on Glass’s own record label Orange Mountain Music and tours, records and performs as a duo alongside longtime music director of the Philip Glass Ensemble Michael Riesman.  Spruill’s follow-up solo album "A Common Time" released in 2022 and was critically lauded by NPR, Apple Music, the French classical magazine DIAPASON, and Composer Magazine.  The most recent Glass-Spruill collaboration led to the formation of a new, actively touring string quartet called CS4 which premiered and released the recording of Glass's newest String Quartet No. 9 ("King Lear").

He’s collaborated with notable artists such as Kronos Quartet, pianist Emmanuel Ax, composers Nico Muhly, Jessie Montgomery, and BAFTA-nominated Brian Reitzell, releasing music from the acclaimed NBC television series "Hannibal" and more.  He was a core faculty member with the Nationally celebrated not-for-profit organization Community MusicWorks in Providence, Rhode Idland from 2012-2017, as well as a Visiting Professor of Violin and Orchestral Studies at Wheaton College in Massachusetts from 2015-2017.  Dedicated to exploring potential intersections between music, education and social justice with young people, Spruill returned to his hometown in Vacaville, California in 2017 to develop and run the music program at Sierra Vista K-8 where he remains on faculty.  He is a State Credentialed educator, an alumnus of Sacramento State having graduated with his bachelor’s degree in Violin Performance under the guidance of Anna Presler, and graduated with his Master's Degree of Arts in Education (Teaching) from Alliant International University.  He was Concertmaster of Camellia Symphony Orchestra from 2019-2024 and in 2022, was appointed permanent Concertmaster for Auburn Symphony under new music director Maestro Ryan Murray.  He joined the faculty of Sacramento State School of Music in Fall 2024.