Madelyn Kowalski
Soloist, Chamber Musician
American cellist Madelyn Kowalski grew up on a small island in the Pacific Northwest of Washington State, surrounded by woods, sea, mountains, animals, music, and art, which all contributed to the inspiration and imagination she searches for in her work.
Madelyn began cello lessons at age seven with Mia Frederickson and Leslie Marckx. She made her concerto debut with the Cascade Symphony at age 14. In 2016, Madelyn moved to the UK to study with Alison Wells at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS). She graduated with her bachelor’s in 2020 and completed her master’s in 2022.
In January 2023 Madelyn was invited by Steven Isserlis to give a recital at the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad, where her performance with pianist Anna Han received the André Hoffmann prize for the best interpretation of the commissioned work for the festival: Fuego Negro, by composer Diana Syrse. Following this, in the 2023-24 season, Madelyn was an artist with the Classeek Ambassador Programme in Switzerland, as well as a fellow at the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance in Nova Scotia. Madelyn has also enjoyed playing with chamber orchestras in the UK and Europe in recent years, including the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, and the Amsterdam Sinfonietta.
Madelyn has participated at IMS Prussia Cove and Yellow Barn Festival for several years, and has also attended the Kneisel Hall festival and the Sitka International Cello Seminar. She recently attended the Académie Maurice Ravel in France where she collaborated with pianist Jonathan Ferrucci, and also regularly takes part in the Open Chamber Music sessions at Prussia Cove in the fall. Over the past decade she has had the opportunity to work in lessons and masterclasses with Steven Isserlis, David Waterman, Ralph Kirshbaum, Raphael Wallfisch, Natasha Brofsky, Joel Krosnick, David Geringas, Antônio Meneses, Bruno Delepelaire, Zuil Bailey and Melissa Kraut.
While at the RCS, Madelyn played in a duo with fellow student, pianist Maurizio Arroyo Reyes. Along with many performances throughout Scotland, their collaborations included a broadcast recital on BBC Radio 3 and a series of streamed concerts during the pandemic for Chamber Music Scotland. In 2020 Madelyn was honored to give the Scottish premiere of Errollyn Wallen’s cello concerto with the RCS Orchestra. In her last year at the RCS she performed Haydn’s D Major Cello Concerto with the RCS Orchestra under the baton of the late David Watkin and Walton’s Cello Concerto with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
She has received multiple awards including a Silver Medal from the Worshipful Company of Musicians, an ABRSM International Postgraduate Scholarship, the Beatrice Huntington Award for Cellists and support from the Hattori foundations. In 2018 she placed 2nd in the Concours International de Violoncelle “Tremplin” in Paris.
Madelyn loves animals, and treasures any time spent with her beloved German Shepherd, Treu. She also enjoys creating watercolor paintings of animals and hopes to write and illustrate a children’s book.
Madelyn plays a David Rattray cello modeled after Guarneri filius Andreae, Cremona, 1692. Her bow is made by her brother, the bow maker Cody Kowalski.
See madelynkowalski.com for more information
