Mary Cowell, viola
Mary Cowell
Washington state native Cowell is Colorado Symphony's 3rd chair violist. Raised in Everett, WA, she began playing the violin at age four, played in the local youth symphonies through middle school and continued studying at the Far Eastern Music Institute when her family moved to Vladivostok, Russia.
Cowell attended the University of Wyoming, where she earned her Bachelor's Degree in Viola Performance, and studied with James Przygocki. As a freshman she was accepted to the National Symphony Orchestra's Summer Music Institute. While attending the University of Wyoming, she met her husband Myron, a music education student and also a violist. While studying at UW, she spent several summers at Indiana University, studying with Mimi Zweig. Together with her husband, they traveled to Gmunden, Austria in 2001 for a summer music institute at Schloss Ort, where she performed chamber music with members of the Dallas Symphony and other students from Europe and the US.
After finishing school, she and her husband moved from Wyoming to Cleveland, Ohio, where Mary attended the Cleveland Institute of Music and received a Professional Studies Certificate in viola performance, and studied with Jeffrey Irvine and Lynne Ramsey. Mary spent the summer of 2004 playing in Breckenridge, CO, in the National Repertory Orchestra, while Myron was house hunting in the North Denver area where he was hired to teach middle school orchestra. Mary won her position with the CSO in September of 2008. They have two children, Julia and Benjamin, and one dog, a German Short-haired Pointer named Monty.
Washington state native Cowell is Colorado Symphony's 3rd chair violist. Raised in Everett, WA, she began playing the violin at age four, played in the local youth symphonies through middle school and continued studying at the Far Eastern Music Institute when her family moved to Vladivostok, Russia.
Cowell attended the University of Wyoming, where she earned her Bachelor's Degree in Viola Performance, and studied with James Przygocki. As a freshman she was accepted to the National Symphony Orchestra's Summer Music Institute. While attending the University of Wyoming, she met her husband Myron, a music education student and also a violist. While studying at UW, she spent several summers at Indiana University, studying with Mimi Zweig. Together with her husband, they traveled to Gmunden, Austria in 2001 for a summer music institute at Schloss Ort, where she performed chamber music with members of the Dallas Symphony and other students from Europe and the US.
After finishing school, she and her husband moved from Wyoming to Cleveland, Ohio, where Mary attended the Cleveland Institute of Music and received a Professional Studies Certificate in viola performance, and studied with Jeffrey Irvine and Lynne Ramsey. Mary spent the summer of 2004 playing in Breckenridge, CO, in the National Repertory Orchestra, while Myron was house hunting in the North Denver area where he was hired to teach middle school orchestra. Mary won her position with the CSO in September of 2008. They have two children, Julia and Benjamin, and one dog, a German Short-haired Pointer named Monty.