Malcolm Lowe
Concertmaster (Emeritus) Boston Symphony Orhestra; Cleveland Institute of Music
Malcolm Lowe led the Boston Symphony Orchestra as concertmaster for 35 years with three iconic music directors, Seiji Ozawa, James Levine, and Andris Nelsons. Mr Lowe gravitated to the concertmaster chair at a very young age. The breadth and scope that accompanies the concertmaster position at any level has been a constant in his musical life since that time. The innumerable concerts, worldwide tours and recordings with the Boston Symphony and Boston Symphony Chamber Players, concertos, chamber music, recitals, and teaching are all parts of this diverse career that continue to be an inspiration to him and others. Mr. Lowe became renowned for his sound, eloquence, musicianship and leadership in the complexities of being a concertmaster. Christoph von Dohnanyi said of Malcolm, “ You really own the chair.”
Mr. Lowe appeared frequently as a soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, performing Bruch, Mozart, Brahms, Chausson, Haydn, Vivaldi, Bach, Walton, Saint-Saens, Spohr, Britten, and Berlioz, at Symphony and Tanglewood and he returned many times to his native Canada for guest appearances as soloist with the Toronto, Montreal, Vancover symphony orchestras and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa as well as other orchestras across Canada. Mr. Lowe was the recipient of many awards, he won third prize in the prestigious 1979 Montreal International Violin Competition while he was concertmaster of the Quebec Symphony Orchestra. Prior to his position with the Quebec Symphony, Mr Lowe was the concertmaster of the Regina Sympnony after he graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music. Mr. Lowe received an honorary doctorate from the University of Regina. While at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Mr Lowe was a faculty member at the Tanglewood Music Center, New England Conservatory and Boston University. He is presently a faculty member at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Born to musical parents, his father was a violinist, his mother a vocalist, on a farm in Hamiota, Manitoba. Mr. Lowe still considers his parents as his most significant musical influence. Mr. Lowe moved with his family to Regina, Saskatchewan, at the age of nine. There he studied at the Regina Conservatory of Music with Howard Leyton-Brown, former concertmaster of the London Symphony Orchestra and former pupil of Max Rostal and Carl Flesch. Mr Lowe studied with Ivan Galamian at the Meadowmount School of Music and with Mr Galamian and Jaime Laredo at the Curtis Institute of Music. Mr Lowe also studied violin with Sally Thomas and was greatly influenced by Josef Gingold, Felix Galimir, Alexander Schneider and Jascha Brodsky.
Mr. Lowe’s love and passion for music permeates all of his continued musical activities, recitals, chamber music, and teaching younger generations of musicians through unique private teaching and masterclasses. Mr. Lowe has also found his participation in summer festivals and on the juries of the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis and the Montreal Violin Competition to be very inspiring and a connection to the remarkable young violinists who are moving the art of violin playing forward. A mainstay of the musical message and belief that Mr. Lowe embraces, from generation to generation, is communicating soulful, moving, music making and he is committed to that message by giving as much as possible from his vast expertise, experience, and insight.
Mr. Lowe is currently on faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music and continues his violin teaching concertmaster coaching which is an extension of his distinguished career and singular perspective. Mr. Lowe is developing a new strong joint teaching studio with Ms Eun-song Koh at the Cleveland Institute of Music focusing on violin playing and performance. As part of his teaching, Mr. Lowe will be starting a concentrated concertmaster course of study.
