{"id":331,"date":"2020-04-12T15:22:32","date_gmt":"2020-04-12T15:22:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.briandowdy.com\/v2\/?page_id=331"},"modified":"2026-07-01T18:28:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T18:28:29","slug":"bio","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.briandowdy.com\/v2\/bio\/","title":{"rendered":"Bio"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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BIOGRAPHY<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Brian Dowdy is a conductor, guitarist, and organizational leader committed to supporting the work of living music-makers and enriching the lives of community members through programming that expands artistic horizons, amplifies a diversity of voices, and creates courageous, compassionate world citizens. Brian currently serves as Progran Director with the American Composers Forum.  His conducting positions have included the Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra, a Twin Cities-based LGBTQIA+ ensemble, St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra, Mississippi Valley Orchestra, Journey North Opera Company, the University of Minnesota Campus Orchestra Program, the Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra, and the Sanctuary choir of St. Stephen’s Richmond. <\/p>\n

As both a performer and arts administrator, Brian’s programming centers the work of living artists and artists from underrepresented and marginalized populations, bringing new and rarely performed works to the stage. As Program Director at the American Composers Forum, he oversees McKnight Composer Fellowships and Visiting Composer Residencies and other programs that support Minnesota-based composers, while building local relationships and advocating for arts funding in Minnesota. His recent orchestral performances have included music by such composers as Louis Ballard (a.k.a Honganozhe – “Stands with Eagles”), Ulysses Kay, Alice Mary Smith, Florence Price, Emilie Mayer, Margaret Bonds, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, William Grant Still, and Augusta Holmes, and world premieres by Niloufar Nourbakhsh, Sahba Aminikia,  Mary Kouyoumdjian, Andrew Yee, Nathan Hall, Yaz Lancaster, and Liza Sobel Crane. <\/p>\n

With a particular interest in genre-defying works by 20th and 21st century music creators, Brian has performed new and contemporary works for the Switchboard Music Festival, Hot Air Music Festival, Old First Concerts, New Music Santa Cruz, Noe Valley Chamber Music, and Virginia Commonwealth University\u2019s Guest Artist Series. In 2013, he conducted the Atlantic Chamber Ensemble in a night of 20 premiers inspired by Beck Hansen\u2019s Song Reader.<\/span> <\/span>He has premiered numerous compositions for guitar and performed a wide variety of 20th and 21st century repertoire, and in 2009 he performed in the premier recording of Lou Harrison\u2019s Elegy for Harpo Marx, alongside David Tanenbaum and Rodrigo Placencia.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to symphonic works, Brian has recently led fully-staged productions of Don Giovanni, H\u00e4nsel und Gretel, Susannah, Le trag\u00e9die de Carmen, The Rape of Lucretia, Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up, and Nico Muhly’s Dark Sisters. <\/span>His performance of Benjamin Britten\u2019s The Rape of Lucretia with Journey North Opera Company was named one of \u201cThe 10 concerts that shone brightest in 2019\u201d by the Twin Cities\u2019 Star Tribune. <\/span>
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Brian has led choral and choral-orchestral performances with the University of Minnesota Campus Singers, Chorus Polaris, the Great River Chorale and the Sanctuary choir of St. Stephen\u2019s Richmond, with whom he recorded Music for Compline, an album of plainchant and renaissance motets. He also produced and sang in Pesher Compline, a modified and semi-improvised compline service, performed with members of Cantus inside James Turrell\u2019s Sky Pesher as part of the Walker Art Center\u2019s 2014 Open Field program.<\/span><\/p>\n

Brian studied at Oberlin College, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and the University of Minnesota. He holds degrees in conducting, guitar performance, English literature and East Asian Studies, for which he received two Newton Essay Prizes for explorations of the geopolitical roles of the Dalai Lama and the influence of D.T. Suzuki on Zen Buddhism in the United States. His principal musical mentors have included Mark Russell Smith, Erin Freeman, Kathy Saltzman Romey, Daniel Myssyk, David Tanenbaum and Stephen Aron.<\/p>\n

Brian, his partner, and their son live, work, and play in the Twin Cities. When not making music, Brian can usually be found at the dojo practicing Aikido, the Japanese martial \u201cart of peace,\u201d or building, repairing and riding all manner of bicycles. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Photo by Sarah Mosher<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tREPERTOIRE<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Thrilling ensemble...in a class with the top young string quartets<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Michell Dulak
San Francisco Clasical Voice<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The thirteen-piece chamber orchestra, led by Brian Dowdy, had palpable ensemble energy on opening night. Dowdy creates a sensitive environment for the singers to shine<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Kristen Moore
Schmopera<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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BIOGRAPHY Brian Dowdy is a conductor, guitarist, and organizational leader committed to supporting the work of living music-makers and enriching the lives of community members through programming that expands artistic horizons, amplifies a diversity of voices, and creates courageous, compassionate world citizens. Brian currently serves as Progran Director with the American Composers Forum.  His conducting positions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"page-builder","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"disabled","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-331","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.briandowdy.com\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.briandowdy.com\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.briandowdy.com\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.briandowdy.com\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.briandowdy.com\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331"}],"version-history":[{"count":116,"href":"https:\/\/www.briandowdy.com\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1939,"href":"https:\/\/www.briandowdy.com\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/331\/revisions\/1939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.briandowdy.com\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}