© Kevin Corby Bowyer 2024
Kevin
Bowyer
is
a
well-known
figure
in
the
organ
world.
Born
in
Southend-on-Sea
in
1961,
he
studied
with
Eric
Welch,
Douglas
Hawkridge,
Christopher
Bowers-Broadbent,
David
Sanger,
Arthur
Wills, Virginia Black, and Paul Steinitz.
His
triumphs
in
five
international
organ
competitions
(St.
Albans,
1983;
Dublin,
Paisley,
Odense,
Calgary,
all
1990)
led
to
worldwide
performances
and
a
discography
of
well
over
a
hundred
solo
CDs
(those
are
what
folk
used
to
buy
before
“streaming”
came
along),
encompassing
the
complete
organ
works
of
J
S
Bach,
Brahms,
and
Alain,
and
running
through
Schumann,
Reubke,
Alkan,
Hindemith,
Pepping,
Nielsen,
Schoenberg,
Langlais
and
Messiaen
to
a
vast
amount
of
contemporary
stuff
by
Alan
Gibbs,
Malcolm
Williamson,
Janet
Graham,
James
Iliff,
Wilfrid
Mellers,
Brian
Ferneyhough,
Charles
Camilleri,
Gordon
Sherwood,
Ronald
Law,
Peter
Maxwell
Davies,
Einojuhani
Rautavaara,
Philip
Glass,
Alistair
Hinton,
Kaikhosru
Sorabji…
the
inventory
is
almost
endless.
He
also
dabbled
in
light
music,
recording
a
series
of
five
discs
entitled
Organ
Party!
and
another
pair
yclept
Organ
X-Plosion!
The
breadth
and
size
of
his
repertoire has been described more than once as “unique”.
Kevin hates long lists.
He
was
a
popular
teacher,
and
from
1999
to
2008,
served
as
senior
lecturer
in
organ
at
Manchester’s
Royal
Northern
College
of
Music.
He’s
been
organist
to
the
University
of
Glasgow since 2005.
In
2022,
he
was
awarded
the
Medal
of
the
Royal
College
of
Organists,
the
institution’s
highest
honour,
and
in
2023,
the
“Lifetime
Award”
of
the
German
Record
Critics
–
the
“Ehrenpreis
der
Deutschen
Schallplattenkritik”
–
who
described
him
as
The
most
exciting
and stimulating organist of our time.
He
contributed
two
extensive
chapters
to
the
third
volume
of
Jon
Laukvik’s
Historical
Performance
Practice
in
Organ
Playing:
Modern
and
Contemporary
Music
(Carus
60.011):
one on British music, the other on North American.
Under
the
nom
de
plume
Kevin
Corby
Bowyer
,
he
has
produced
(so
far)
seven
volumes
of fiction. Click here for a link to his writing website ……
These
days,
Kevin
has
largely
withdrawn
from
concert
playing
but
does
occasionally
emerge
from
hiding,
particularly
to
play
repertoire
that
tempts
him.
Ask
if
you’re
interested. You’ll get a kind reply, at least…
“Change your name! Kevin Bowyer don’t sound like an organist - sounds like a b***** Boy Scout!”
(Advice of record producer, 1988)