GUEST ARTIST

Hailed by The New York Times as an especially impressive fine pianist, RICHARD DOWLING appears regularly across the United States in solo recitals, at chamber music and jazz/ragtime festivals, and as a guest soloist in concerto performances with orchestras. He has been acclaimed by audiences for his elegant and exciting style of playing which earns him frequent return engagements. Career highlights include a sold-out New York orchestral debut at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, solo recitals at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall in New York, and a special award from the National Federation of Music Clubs recognizing his outstanding performances of American music. Mr. Dowling has presented solo recitals in the Far East, South America, Australia, Africa, and Europe. Works of Chopin, Ravel, Gershwin, Gottschalk and ragtime figure prominently in his repertoire.

Mr. Dowling has received performance reviews that praise him as “a master of creating beautiful sounds with impeccable control of colors and textures” and as “a musician with something to say, the skill to say it and the magnetic power to make you want to listen” and for giving “a superb recital that left the audience craving for more at the end.” He is also a versatile recording artist with over a dozen CDs of classical, chamber, ragtime, jazz, and popular music. His most recent recordings include Music of Old New York, a CD containing songs and piano rags inspired by The Big Apple at the turn of the century, and Gershwin for Two Pianos, a collection featuring Rhapsody in Blue and other beloved Gershwin works with virtuoso pianist Frederick Hodges.

On April 1, 2017 Mr. Dowling performed the complete piano works of the renowned American ragtime composer Scott Joplin in two historic sold-out recitals at Carnegie Hall, exactly 100 years to the day Joplin died in New York. He is the first pianist to perform the complete cycle of Joplin’s 53 rags, marches, waltzes and cakewalks in public. Throughout 2017 & 2018 Mr. Dowling performed nearly 100 all-Joplin recitals nationwide in commemoration of the centennial of Joplin’s death and the sesquicentennial of his birth. Rivermont Records released his Grammy-nominated 3-CD set, The Complete Piano Works of Scott Joplin. Veteran celebrity ragtime pianist Max Morath says "Richard Dowling’s mastery of the Joplin rags invokes a tenderness that charms us and a technical command that inspires our admiration."

A native Texan, Richard Dowling began his piano studies in Houston at age five and his extraordinary musical talent quickly became evident. He made his orchestral debut in a Beethoven concerto performance with the Fort Worth Chamber Symphony at age eighteen. He received his bachelor’s degree in music summa cum laude from the University of Houston. Subsequently, he earned a master’s degree at Yale University where he was honored with the Lockwood Award for performing the best solo recital and the Simonds Award for outstanding solo and ensemble playing, and a doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin where he was awarded a graduate school full fellowship.

Mr. Dowling has long felt a special affinity for French music, art and culture. He studied at the Conservatoire in Nice, received the Grand Prix from the French Piano Institute, and made his formal recital debut in Paris at the Salle Cortot. His repertoire includes the complete piano works of the renowned French composer Maurice Ravel. In recognition of his dedication to French musical art, Mr. Dowling was inducted as a Chevalier of the renowned Company of Musketeers of Armagnac (an honor society founded in the 17th century by D’Artagnan). He is one of only a few Americans ever granted that distinction. In addition to his career as a concert pianist, Dowling works as an editor for Ludwig/Masters Music Publications and Alfred Music Publishing for whom he has produced critical performing editions of piano and chamber works by Zez Confrey, Debussy, Fauré, Gershwin, Hummel, Mendelssohn, and Ravel (including Ravel’s Piano Trio). In addition to his regular concert performances, Mr. Dowling enjoys performing as a member of the artist roster of The Piatigorsky Foundation (www.pfclassical.org), a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing live classical music to audiences across America. Since 1994 he has performed nearly 1,300 recitals under its auspices both as a soloist and in collaboration with cellist Evan Drachman and other Piatigorsky Artists. Mr. Dowling resides in New York and is a Steinway Artist. He is represented by Parker Artists, a prominent classical music management in New York (www.parkerartists.com/Richard-Dowling.html).