Ivona Kaminska-Bowlby, D.M.A.
Adjunct Instructor, Piano
Polish born pianist, Ivona Kaminska–Bowlby earned a Master of Arts in Piano Performance and a Graduate Artist Performance Diploma from the Frederic Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, Poland. She also holds a Masters of Music degree from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, as well as a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of British Columbia, Canada. Winner of several solo concerto competitions, and the Contemporary Chamber Music Competition in Warsaw, she has appeared on national public radio in Poland and the U.S., and participated in international festivals including the Mozarteum Sommerakademie and Duszniki–Zdroj. She has been the recipient of many distinguished awards including the Stefan Batory National Foundation Merit Award (1993), the Beryl Barnes Music Award (1998, 1999), and the Astral Career Development Grant (2003), among others. Her teachers have included Andrzej Stefanski, Tatiana Shebanova, Boris Bloch, Mark Clinton, Henri–Paul Sicsic, and Marek Jablonski.
Equally passionate as a scholar and pedagogue, Kaminska–Bowlby has published articles and interviews in the Polish music magazine Twoja Muza in which she has presented a comparative analysis of the music education systems of Poland and the United States, and discussed the tradition of Polish piano playing throughout the history of the International Piano Chopin Competition. Dr. Kaminska–Bowlby also serves as the Artistic Director of the Chopin Academy of Music and President of the Seattle International Piano Festival and Competition.