About Me

Kurt Fowler has performed throughout the United States, as well as in Europe, as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral musician. He has served as principal cellist of the Bear Valley Music Festival, the Greenville Symphony Orchestra, and the Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestra, has been a section cellist for the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the Syracuse Symphony, and has performed at numerous summer festivals including the Aspen Music Festival, Sarasota Music Festival, and the Heidelberg Castle Festival in Heidelberg, Germany. Recent engagements have included performances of the Dvorak Cello Concerto with the Tambov Symphony Orchestra in Tambov, Russia, Bach’s Suite No. 4 at the Bear Valley Music Festival in California, and Libby Larsen’s “Bid Call” at the Composer’s Concordance at New York University in New York City.

An advocate of contemporary classical music, Dr. Fowler is the cellist for the Chicago 21st Century Music Ensemble and is particularly active in commissioning new works. He commissioned "Contrapuntal Variations III for Solo Cello" by C.P. First, "Air Over Ground" for ZETA Cello by Dan Powers, and co-commissioned several new works for chamber ensembles including three new works for cello and alto saxophone by composers Dorothy Chang, Libby Larsen, and Zhou Long. Also an advocate of early music, he is a member of the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra and has performed with numerous early music chamber ensembles.

Dr. Fowler received his Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees from the Eastman School of Music and his Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music. His teachers have included Steven Doane, Pamela Frame, and Alan Harris and he has coached extensively with members of the Cleveland, Cavani, and Lydian String Quartets. He is currently Associate Professor of Music at Indiana State University and principal cellist of the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra.