Margaret Slovak is a guitarist, composer and painter. Born and raised in Denver, Colorado, she began playing the guitar at age 11 and composing at age 14. Margaret studied jazz, classical music and visual art, receiving her BFA in music from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, Washington. Her teachers included guitarists John Abercrombie, Dale Bruning, Dave Peterson and Ralph Towner. Margaret has performed throughout the US, Canada, Germany and the Czech Republic.

She has released five CDs, four of which feature her original music. In addition to public performances, Margaret plays for patients in cancer centers, hospitals and hospice; she also performed for wounded combat veterans at the Bronx VA hospital in NYC from 2009–2012. Margaret is also a painter, creating visual images which reflect her musical compositions; her artwork appears on her album packages and sometimes on stage!

Although Margaret is currently based in Austin, TX, she lived and performed in New York City from 1988–1993 and 2008–2012. In 1989, during her first stint in NYC, she recorded an album of eight of her original compositions; the project featured Margaret on electric guitar, along with three stellar NY musicians: pianist Fred Hersch, bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Michael Sarin. This album, entitled For the Moment, was released on CD in 2007. Now, in 2026, Margaret is releasing a vinyl version of this acclaimed NYC album!

To celebrate the vinyl release, she will perform a quartet concert at Soapbox Gallery featuring the music from For the Moment. She will be joined by the exquisite drummer who was on the original 1989 recording session, Michael Sarin. The quartet will also include two wonderful NYC-based musicians, pianist Gary Versace and bassist Simón Willson.

Margaret Slovak: guitar; Gary Versace: piano; Simòn Willson: bass; Michael Sarin: drums.

www.margaretslovak.com; Instagram: @margaretslovakguitar