Join pianists Ivona Kaminska-Bowlby and Christopher Bowlby for an afternoon of solo and four-hand piano music celebrating the poetic imagination, emotional depth and collaborative spirit of the Romantic tradition.

The program centers on two landmark solo works by Robert Schumann: Carnaval, Op. 9, performed by Ivona Kaminska-Bowlby, and Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6, performed by Christopher Bowlby. These complementary cycles—by turns playful, introspective and impassioned—offer a vivid portrait of Schumann’s inner world and his deeply personal musical language.

The duo portion of the program features Sergei Rachmaninoff’s beloved Vocalise in an arrangement for piano four hands, alongside additional four-hand repertoire to be announced. Heard together, the solo and duo works illuminate the piano’s expressive range—from intimate, inward reflection to rich, shared sonority.

For more than twenty-five years, Ivona Kaminska-Bowlby and Christopher Bowlby have established themselves internationally as a highly regarded piano duo, while also maintaining active careers as soloists, collaborators and mentors to advanced students whom they frequently co-teach as a team. Their partnership reflects a rare synthesis of performance, pedagogy and artistic leadership.

Polish-born pianist Ivona Kaminska-Bowlby received her graduate and post-graduate training at the F. Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, where she studied with Professors Andrzej Stefański and Tatiana Shebanova. Her later studies brought her to North America, where she met Christopher Bowlby; together, they pursued advanced degrees in piano performance in the United States and Canada, continuing to refine their work as a duo.

Their concert engagements have taken them to major venues and institutions in Europe and North America, including Salle Cortot in Paris, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City, the Biblioteca Nacional de Catalunya in Barcelona and historic venues in Italy, Poland and Spain, alongside appearances at festivals, competitions and concert series across the United States and Canada. They are frequent guest artists and lecturers at state, regional and national Music Teachers National Association conferences.

Equally central to their artistic lives is their commitment to music education and cultural leadership. In 2005, Kaminska-Bowlby and Bowlby founded the Chopin Academy of Music in Issaquah, Washington, where they oversee the training of hundreds of high-achieving students in collaboration with an international faculty of artist-teachers. Their students have earned top honors in local, national and international competitions.

They also serve as executive directors of the Seattle International Piano Competition & Festival, supporting emerging artists from around the world, and lead Chopin Piano Arts in Scottsdale, Arizona, extending their educational and artistic mission to the Southwest.

This concert is presented as part of the Executive Piano Series, a curated initiative devoted to thoughtful, high-level piano performances in refined, intimate settings—inviting audiences to engage deeply with the music and the artists behind it.

For more information:
https://executivepianoseries.com
https://chopin-piano-arts.com
https://www.seattlepianocompetition.org