Recognized for his “rich, alluring tone” and praised as “brilliant” (the New York Times), violinist David Bowlin has led a wide-ranging career as a soloist and chamber musician, performing an expansive repertoire. First prize winner of the Washington International Competition, he has performed across the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Among his dozens of world premieres are violin concerti written for him by Marcos Balter, Alexandra Hermentin, and Donald Crockett, with performances at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, and at the Aspen Music Festival, respectively.  In 2011 he made the premiere recording of Huang Ruo’s Omnipresence Concerto on the Oberlin Music label.

A dedicated teacher, Bowlin currently serves on the faculty of the Eastman School of Music, and for 17 years served on the faculty of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.  In the summer he teaches on the faculty of the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, and has also been faculty artist at the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Sarasota Music Festival, and the ARIA Academy.  He has given many masterclasses throughout the US and abroad, most recently at the Australian National Academy of Music, the Royal Danish Academy of Music, the Norwegian Academy, Malmö Academy of Music in Sweden, Seoul National University, Yonsei University, and the Kunstuniversität Graz.

As a chamber musician, Bowlin performs regularly with the Bowlin-Cho Duo, and has been a longtime member of the Oberlin Trio.  He was a founding member of the highly-acclaimed International Contemporary Ensemble and is a former member of the Naumburg Award-winning Da Capo Chamber Players. Chamber music collaborations include guest performances with the Juilliard Quartet, as well as with members of the Emerson and Brentano Quartets. He has made several tours with Musicians from Marlboro and has been a guest artist with many organizations, including the Boston Chamber Music Society, ChamberFest Cleveland, the Portland Chamber Music Festival, the Banff Centre, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Ojai, Songfest, Chamber Music Chicago, the Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival, and the Four Seasons festival. As concertmaster, he has appeared as a guest with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony, the IRIS Chamber Orchestra, the Marlboro Festival Orchestra, and the San Antonio Philharmonic.

Honors include the Samuel Baron Prize from Stony Brook University and the Samuel Sanders Prize from the Classical Recording Foundation, New York City.  He is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, The Juilliard School, and Stony Brook University, where his principal teachers were Ronald Copes, Pamela Frank, Ani Kavafian, Philip Setzer, and Roland and Almita Vamos.