Violinist David Bowlin and pianist Tony Cho met as faculty colleagues at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and have been performing together as the Bowlin-Cho Duo since 2017, in concerts across the United States, Europe and South Korea. Recognized for their passionate and insightful interpretations, the Duo’s wide-ranging repertoire includes music from Bach to Saariaho, with programming of beloved classics mixed with rarities and lesser-known treasures. Their festival appearances include the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Chamber Music Quad Cities, Credo Festival, SongFest at Colburn School, among others. The Duo has also performed and held residencies at several conservatories and universities, most recently at Roosevelt University, Montclair State University, Shenandoah University and Iceland’s Menntaskóli í tónlist. They can be heard on the New Focus Recordings (2019) label with music of Martin Bresnick, and are featured in works by William Grant Still on an Oberlin Music release. In the Spring of 2024, NAXOS released the Duo’s recording of Roussel’s violin sonatas and string trio.

David Bowlin has been appointed Professor of Violin at the Eastman School of Music, and will join its distinguished faculty in the fall of 2024. First prize winner of the 2003 Washington International Competition, he has performed extensively as a soloist, with premieres of violin concerti written for him at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ Mostly Mozart Festival, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and at the Aspen Music Festival. As a chamber musician, Mr. Bowlin has toured with Musicians from Marlboro and tours regularly with the Oberlin Trio and his duo partner, pianist Tony Cho. He is a founding member of the acclaimed International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) and a former member of the Naumburg Award-winning Da Capo Chamber players.  From 2007 to 2024, he was a member of the violin and chamber music faculty of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he also served as Chair of Strings.

David Bowlin has performed as guest concertmaster with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Marlboro Festival Orchestra and IRIS Orchestra. His festival collaborations include frequent performances at Aspen, Banff, Bowdoin, Chesapeake, Marlboro and Ojai, as well as ChamberFest Cleveland, Boston Chamber Music Society and Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, where he has been faculty artist since 2013. His recordings can be found on the Arsis, Bridge, Mode, Naxos, New Focus, Oberlin Music and Tundra labels. Mr. Bowlin is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, The Juilliard School and Stony Brook University.

Pianist Tony Cho enjoys a multifaceted career as recitalist, chamber musician and opera and vocal coach. He has collaborated with numerous artists at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Zipper Concert Hall (Los Angeles), Ganz Hall (Chicago), Meany Hall (Seattle), Harris Concert Hall (Aspen) and the Honolulu Museum of Art , among many others throughout the United States and abroad. His performances have been featured on WKCR (New York City), WVIZ (Cleveland) and WXOJ (Northampton, MA), live on KVOD (Denver), KHPR (Honolulu) and Maine Public Radios’s WMEA Tiny Screen Concert Series.

In the Fall of 2024, Tony Cho joined the chamber music and collaborative piano faculty at the Eastman School of Music. Previously, he had held vocal arts coaching positions at The Juilliard School, University of Southern California, Chapman University and, from 2015 to 2024, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, while summer festival faculty appointments include SongFest at the Colburn School, Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, Idyllwild Summer Arts and Taos Opera Institute. Abroad, Mr. Cho has given classes at South Korea’s Yonsei and Sungkyul universities and the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China. He has been on the staffs of several opera houses, including those of Central City, Glimmerglass, Hawaii, Long Beach, Santa Barbara, Sarasota, Tulsa and Virginia, functioning as assistant conductor, coach and repétiteur. Mr. Cho’s orchestral work includes serving as harpsichordist for Handel’s Messiah with The Honolulu Symphony, pianist for Copland’s Appalachian Spring with the Cascadian Symphony (WA) and keyboardist with the Aspen, Central City and Long Beach opera orchestras.

A native of South Korea, Tony Cho is a graduate of Oklahoma State University, University of Cincinnati and University of Washington.

www.bowlinchoduo.com

ALBERT ROUSSEL Violin Sonata #1 in d, Op. 11 Violin Sonata #2 in A, Op. 28 String Trio, Op. 58 with Kirsten Docter, violist Dmitry Kouzov, cellist NAXOS 8574577 (2024)

“BIRD AS PROPHET” Davidovsky: Synchronisms No. 9 with David Bowlin, violinist Karatoyanova-Hermentin: Kastena with David Bowlin, violinist Katinka Kleijn, cellist Bresnick: Bird as Prophet with David Bowlin, violinist Tony Cho, pianist Walker: Bleu with David Bowlin, violinist Karatoyanova-Hermentin: Mari Mamo with David Bowlin, violinist Conor Nelson, flutist Ayano Kataoka, percussionist Du Yun: Under a tree, an Udatta with David Bowlin, violinist New Focus Recordings: FCR237 (2019)

No loss of character as a master of the stage turns inward [headline]
Albert Roussel’s First Violin Sonata, dating from 1907–8, reflects the French musical milieu of the time. After its soulful opening David Bowlin leaps into the jaunty, rhythmically vital second theme with energy and glistening tone. He produces a rich, woody sound in the darker-hued development and some passionate G-string outbursts in the coda, before giving a supple account of the twisting, restless lines of the second-movement Assez animé, with expressive playing on the lower strings in the slower central section. The dancing final Très animé is upbeat, full of syncopation, punchy accents and crisp staccatos. Throughout the sonata, with its technical demands and touches of theatre, both Bowlin and Tony Cho rise splendidly to its challenges.

THE STRAD

ROUSSEL: VIOLIN SONATA, STRING TRIO, David Bowlin, Tony Cho et al/Naxos
A highly useful set that collects dynamic (and authentic) performances of these elusive 20th century chamber pieces. Even at more than its generous bargain price, this would be a highly collectible issue. These neglected pieces have rarely been better played, and admirers of Roussel may care to move beyond his more familiar orchestral music.

CLASSICAL CD CHOICE

[George Walker’s Bleu] is a beautiful, expressive piece that combines a warm romanticism with chromatic, Modernist lines; Bowlin plays it with great depth of feeling, as he does Martin Bresnick’s Bird as Prophet, a piece for violin and piano (Tony Cho).

AVANT MUSIC NEWS

Each piece falls into a modernist setting simultaneously dynamic and demonstrating Bowlin’s fluid command of the violin, whilst brimming with crisp drama. Grainy and taut swirls engage with melodic picking and jarred undercurrents of rasping bridges, conjuring images perfect for a creepy and sinister thriller.

ADVERSE EFFECT MAGAZINE

On his latest CD, violinist David Bowlin presents an astonishing array of works that showcase his extraordinary ability as interpreter of diverse styles of contemporary music. Released on New Focus Recordings, “Bird as Prophet” is a fantastical journey for all–not just new music aficionados. Throughout the recording, Bowlin proves himself to be a player of abundant technique, however it is his innate expressive abilities that make this album so attractive. Pianist Tony Cho joins Bowlin in Martin Bresnick’s Bird as Prophet, a work inspired by the music of Robert Schumann and Charlie Parker. Full of Romantic glory which is totally embraced by the performers, this fascinating piece doesn’t reveal its full self on a first listen. Sudden emotional changes and harmonic structures that initially sound odd, sound perfectly natural the second time around. Bowlin finds his way inside the composer’s exotic sound world that draws you in and holds your attention. His commanding playing turns this spellbinding piece into a work of symphonic scale.

CLEVELANDCLASSICAL.COM

1/15-22/2024	HIDDEN VALLEY CHAMBER MUSIC INTENSIVE (Carmel Valley, CA)
2/15/2024 (7:30pm)	OBERLIN CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC (OH) Kulas Recital Hall Beethoven: Piano Trio #6 Shostakovich: Piano Trio #2 with Haewon Song, pianist David Bowlin, violinist Dmitry Kouzov, cellist
2/25/2024 (3pm)	BOSTON CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY Sanders Theatre, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA) Mozart: String Quintet #6 with Yura Lee, violinist David Bowlin, violinist Marcus Thompson, violist , violist Raman Ramakrishnan, cellist Ruehr: Piano Quintet with Max Levinson, pianist David Bowling, violinist Marcus Thompson, violist Raman Ramakrishnan, cellist Thomas Van Dyck, double-bassist
3/24/2024 (3pm)	ENSEMBLE X Timothy Weiss, conductor Barnes Hall, Cornell University (Ithaca, NY) Balter: Violin Concerto soloist: David Bowlin
4/9/2024 (7:30pm)	THORNTON EDGE (Los Angeles, CA) Donald Crockett, conductor Newman Recital Hall, University of Southern California Crockett: Violin Concerto
4/19/2024 (7:30pm)	FERMATA CHAMBER SOLOISTS (MA) First Church in Cambridge Mendelssohn: Double Concerto for Violin & Piano
6/20-22/2024	ARIA INTERNATIONAL SUMMER ACADEMY (South Hadley, MA)
6/22-27/2024	KNEISEL HALL CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL (Blue Hill, ME)
6/29/2024 (7:30pm)	ADIRONDACK LAKES CENTER FOR THE ARTS (Blue Mountain Lake, NY) Mozart: Violin Sonata #18 Debussy: Violin Sonata Stravinsky: Divertimento from The Fairy’s Kiss Saariaho: Tocar Fauré: Violin Sonata
6/30-8/11/2024	KNEISEL HALL CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL (Blue Hill, ME)
8/12-18/2024 (2pm)	OLYMPIC MUSIC FESTIVAL (Port Townsend, WA) Wheeler Theater at Fort Worden
8/19-25/2024	MUSIC IN THE VINEYARDS (Napa, CA)