Ambassador: Steven Isserlis

"Madelyn Kowalski is a truly individual musician, with an unusually enquiring mind, and the ability to express deeply felt emotions through her playing. She is also a unique person - a highly talented visual artist as well as cellist; maybe that (partly) explains why her performances are so vivid!"

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American cellist Madelyn Kowalski grew up in a creative family on a small island in the Pacific Northwest of Washington State, surrounded by woods, sea, mountains, animals, music, and art, which all contributed to the inspiration and imagination she searches for in her work.Madelyn began cello lessons at age seven with Mia Frederickson and Leslie Marckx.

She made her concerto debut with the Cascade Symphony at age 14. In 2016, Madelyn moved to the UK to study with Alison Wells at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS). She graduated with her bachelor’s in 2020 and completed her master’s in 2022.​

In January 2023 Madelyn was invited by Steven Isserlis to give a recital at the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad, where her performance received the André Hoffmann prize for the best interpretation of the commissioned work for the festival: Fuego Negro, by composer Diana Syrse. She is currently a 2023 Lamp Fellow in Nova Scotia where her recent chamber music collaborators have included Kim Kashkashian, Jane Coop, Anna Han, and Catherina Lee.