Biography
Alison Lowell has performed music requiring everything from Renaissance shawms to improvisations of graphic scores. A tireless advocate of new music, Alison has premiered new works with ensembles around the world and is in constant pursuit of ways to expand the repertoire for her instrument. She continues this mission through her recent appointment of principal oboist of the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra in South Africa.
In 2009, Alison was the recipient of the prestigious “Investing in Artists Grant” from the Center for Cultural Innovation for an extended-range oboe. She launched the “Loboe Project” as a series of commissions and performances of works written specifically for her oboe. Several works from this project were premiered with Out of Context, a new music group that Alison co-founded in 2007. Specializing in adventurous programming, the ensemble has received funding from the “Meet the Composer” Foundation and has performed in locations ranging from the concert hall to hardware stores.
Alison was the oboist of the award-winning quintet Midnight Winds in Los Angeles from 2007-10. The ensemble regularly premiered new chamber works, presented educational programs and toured Poland in 2008. While living in Los Angeles, Alison recorded soundtracks for films and commercials which have aired in the USA, Mexico and Germany. She was also a featured performer in the “Monday Evening Concert Series”; founded in 1939, it is the longest-running series dedicated to new music in the world.
Alison spent two seasons performing iconic contemporary music at the Lucerne Music Festival (Switzerland) under the direction of Pierre Boulez. She performed in the Ensemble Modern Festival Orchestra (Austria) as well as in the North American premiere of Wolfgang Rihm’s opera “Proserpina” at the Spoleto Festival USA.
Beyond her interest in new and standard repertoire, Alison’s passion for the baroque oboe has led to performances with the San Diego Collegium, Dallas Bach Society, Kansas City Collegium, Rochester Early Music Festival and Harmonia Baroque. Alison received degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Southern California and has studied with Richard Killmer, Allen Vogel and David Weiss.
She has been on faculty at the Signature Music Camp at Ithaca College and has held a private studio for over a decade. When not performing or advocating new music, Alison is an active amature photographer.