Dr. Christopher Bowlby began his studies on the piano at the age of eight. He has received recognition as a soloist and chamber musician, having been awarded degrees in piano performance from the University of Nebraska, University of British Columbia, and the University of Washington. As a winner of several young artists’ competitions and concerto competitions, he has been featured several times on Public Radio both as a speaker as well as a performer and soloed with orchestras. His extensive repertoire shows his expertise both in the monumental romantic masterworks such as Brahms’ “Handel Variations” and Schumann’s “Symphonic Etudes” as well as new works by living composers, including John Corigliano, Jeff Junkinsmith, Laura Kaminsky, David Mitchell, and Owen Bloomfield. Equally at home with chamber music literature, Mr. Bowlby performed Beethoven’s Sonata in A major with cellist, Yo-Yo Ma and frequently performs four-hand and duo piano music with his wife, Ivona Kaminska. Throughout his international studies, he has worked with such eminent artists as Boris Berman, Mark Clinton, Marek Jablonski, Henri-Paul Sicsic, Eugene Skovorodnikov, Stéphane Lemelin, Patricia Michaelian, and Craig Sheppard.
His secondary academic interest in music theory led him to study with some of today’s most prominent theorists, including Henry Klumpenhouwer, Richard Kurth, John Rahn, and Jonathan Bernard. Dr. Bowlby’s research led him to new discoveries of religious symbolic conveyance in Olivier Messiaen’s Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus.
For over seventeen years, Dr. Bowlby has been a devoted teacher. His detailed teaching focuses on a fluid and healthy technique, and artistic conviction, and conveyed through a friendly and courteous manner. For years his students have enjoyed his sense of humor and fun personality. Many of them have been awarded scholarships for both undergraduate and graduate programs in music at numerous prominent colleges and universities in Canada and the United States. Every year several of his pupils at the Chopin Academy of Music receive top prizes and awards at local and regional festivals and competitions, and many have been chosen as finalists in the Seattle International Piano Competition.
Formerly, he was on the faculty of Mount Royal College, the University of British Columbia, Shoreline Community College, and the University of Washington. Dr. Bowlby is currently the Program Director of the Chopin Academy of Music in Issaquah, Washington, and co-founder and vice-president of the Seattle International Piano Festival, which hosts, among other activities, and annual international competition. He is also a member of the Washington Music Teachers’ Association and is frequently asked to serve as an Adjudicator.
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Audio Samples
Franz Liszt’s Tarantella from his set, Venice and Naples