A native of Warsaw, Poland, pianist Dr. Ivona Kaminska Bowlby is among the most versatile artist-teachers of the West Coast. During the spring of 2019, the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Las Angeles, California bestowed upon her the prize for the most outstanding person of Polish origin in the area of culture on the West Coast by the committee, Teraz Polska.
Dr. Kaminska has maintained a busy concert schedule as a soloist and chamber musician, having performed in such venues as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Atherton Recital Hall in Hawaii, the Mozarteum Festival in Austria, the Center for Contemporary Art in Warsaw, Castello Visconteo Sforzesco di Galiate, Italy, Salle Cortot, Paris, and many others. Sought-after as an adjudicator, she regular serves as juror for MTNA competitions and local festivals, as well as the 2014 and 2016 Thalberg International Piano Competition in Naples, Italy. As an established educator and lecturer, she frequently presents topics and lecture recitals on behalf of numerous teaching association chapters. Her lecture on the “Secrets of Winning a Piano Competition” was featured during the Music Teachers’ National Conference in New York City in 2012. The presentation on a the topic of Polish national dance music of Chopin has been featured in many summer programs and MTNA regional conferences.
Dr. Kaminska regularly lectures on performance issues of the music by Frederic Chopin and J.S. Bach, and was interviewed several times by the Polish music journal, Twoja Muza. Dr. Kaminska has been invited throughout her career to teach and perform in numerous summer master classes and festivals, such as the Barcelona Piano Academy, Spain, the Ashland International Piano Institute in Oregon, Tsar’s Village International Master Courses in St. Petersburg, Russia, among many others.
Dr. Kaminska’s versatile musical background stems from her extensive international studies; she was awarded graduate and post graduate degrees from Poland, USA and Canada, including Masters of Arts and Post-Graduate Performance Diploma from the Frederic Chopin University of Music, Warsaw, Poland (1992 and 1993), Masters of Music from University of Nebraska-Lincoln (1998), and a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada (2003). Dr. Kaminska has also participated in the Salzburg Music Akademie, Austria, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Germany, as well as the music program in Duszniki-Zdroj, Poland.
During her studies in both North America and Europe, she received numerous scholarships, assistantships, fellowships. She was also a winner of many prestigious national academic awards, including the Batory Foundation Scholarship, Poland. Some of her most influential teachers were Tatiana Shebanova, Andrzej Stefanski, Dr. James Cook, Dr. Henri-Paul Sicsic, Marek Jabłonski, and Boris Bloch.
Aside from her in-depth studies of the music by Chopin and Schumann, Dr. Kaminska devoted a large part of her North-American studies to the issues of Baroque Performance Practice on organ, harpsichord, and its applications to the modern piano. During her studies of J.S. Bach’s Performance Practice issues, she worked with such eminent Bach-scholars in the discipline as Dr. George Ritchie, Quentin Faulkner, Igor Kipnis, and Gregory Butler.
Currently Dr. Kaminska enjoys the engaging career as an instructor for gifted students who are recognized each year with top-level prizes and honors in national and international competitions. Dr. Kaminska is the Founder and the Artistc Director of the Chopin Academy of Music in Issaquah, WA as well as the President of the Seattle International Piano Competition.
Dr. Kaminska has maintained a busy concert schedule as a soloist and chamber musician, having performed in such venues as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Atherton Recital Hall in Hawaii, the Mozarteum Festival in Austria, the Center for Contemporary Art in Warsaw, Castello Visconteo Sforzesco di Galiate, Italy, Salle Cortot, Paris, and many others. Sought-after as an adjudicator, she regular serves as juror for MTNA competitions and local festivals, as well as the 2014 and 2016 Thalberg International Piano Competition in Naples, Italy. As an established educator and lecturer, she frequently presents topics and lecture recitals on behalf of numerous teaching association chapters. Her lecture on the “Secrets of Winning a Piano Competition” was featured during the Music Teachers’ National Conference in New York City in 2012. The presentation on a the topic of Polish national dance music of Chopin has been featured in many summer programs and MTNA regional conferences.
Dr. Kaminska regularly lectures on performance issues of the music by Frederic Chopin and J.S. Bach, and was interviewed several times by the Polish music journal, Twoja Muza. Dr. Kaminska has been invited throughout her career to teach and perform in numerous summer master classes and festivals, such as the Barcelona Piano Academy, Spain, the Ashland International Piano Institute in Oregon, Tsar’s Village International Master Courses in St. Petersburg, Russia, among many others.
Dr. Kaminska’s versatile musical background stems from her extensive international studies; she was awarded graduate and post graduate degrees from Poland, USA and Canada, including Masters of Arts and Post-Graduate Performance Diploma from the Frederic Chopin University of Music, Warsaw, Poland (1992 and 1993), Masters of Music from University of Nebraska-Lincoln (1998), and a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada (2003). Dr. Kaminska has also participated in the Salzburg Music Akademie, Austria, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Germany, as well as the music program in Duszniki-Zdroj, Poland.
During her studies in both North America and Europe, she received numerous scholarships, assistantships, fellowships. She was also a winner of many prestigious national academic awards, including the Batory Foundation Scholarship, Poland. Some of her most influential teachers were Tatiana Shebanova, Andrzej Stefanski, Dr. James Cook, Dr. Henri-Paul Sicsic, Marek Jabłonski, and Boris Bloch.
Aside from her in-depth studies of the music by Chopin and Schumann, Dr. Kaminska devoted a large part of her North-American studies to the issues of Baroque Performance Practice on organ, harpsichord, and its applications to the modern piano. During her studies of J.S. Bach’s Performance Practice issues, she worked with such eminent Bach-scholars in the discipline as Dr. George Ritchie, Quentin Faulkner, Igor Kipnis, and Gregory Butler.
Currently Dr. Kaminska enjoys the engaging career as an instructor for gifted students who are recognized each year with top-level prizes and honors in national and international competitions. Dr. Kaminska is the Founder and the Artistc Director of the Chopin Academy of Music in Issaquah, WA as well as the President of the Seattle International Piano Competition.
