KENNETH SLOWIK, conductor
Artistic director of the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society,
conductor Kenneth Slowik first established his international
reputation primarily as a cellist and viola da gamba player. His
work with the Smithsonian Chamber Players, Castle Trio, Jaap
Schröder’s Smithson String Quartet, the Axelrod Quartet, and
with Anner Bylsma’s L’Archibudelli, has been widely
recognized and praised over many years. He became conductor
of the Santa Fe Bach Festival in 1998, and served as conductor
of the Santa Fe Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra from 19992004. Now devoting increasing amounts of time to conducting
the orchestral, oratorio, and operatic repertoire with both
modern- and period-instrument ensembles, his performances in
this capacity have also elicited enthusiastic responses from
audiences and critics alike throughout the United States and
Canada, and in Holland, Spain, Poland, and Bulgaria.
Slowik has been conductor and/or featured instrumental soloist
with many orchestras, including the National Symphony, the
Vancouver Symphony, l’Orchestre Symphonique de Québec,
the Baltimore Symphony, and the Cleveland Orchestra. He
frequently provides the organ or harpsichord continuo for
performances of large-scale baroque works at various festivals
in the United States and abroad, and appears in recital both as
harpsichord soloist and fortepiano collaborator for duo sonatas
and Lieder. His impressive discography comprises over sixty
recordings.
Slowik’s performance and musicology studies were guided by
Howard Mayer Brown, Karl Fruh, Nikolaus Harnoncourt,
Antonio Janigro, Edward Lowinsky, Robert Marshall, Frank
Miller, and Frederik Prausnitz. His involvement with 20thcentury art music included many seasons with Ralph Shapey’s
Contemporary Chamber Players and founding membership in
the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art’s resident ensemble
“Twittering Machine.”
For nearly a decade, Slowik was also active as a studio
musician, working with figures from the world of popular
music ranging from Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Sarah
Vaughan to Quincey Jones, Curtis Mayfield and Roberta
Flack. He made numerous recordings as a member of the
Clemencic Consort and Joshua Rifkin’s Bach Ensemble, and
has appeared as a guest artist with many prominent string
quartets as well as with most of the leading U. S. early music
ensembles.
As an educator, Dr. Slowik has presented lectures at colleges
and universities throughout the United States and has
contributed to a number of symposia and colloquia at museums
throughout the United States and Europe. His articles on music
and performance practice have appeared in several scholarly
journals; his annotations for recordings and concert programs
are frequently cited as models in their field. He serves on the
faculty of the University of Maryland and was named Artistic
Director of the Baroque Performance Institute at the Oberlin
College Conservatory in 1993.
What the press says about conductor Kenneth
Slowik . . .
“Kenneth Slowik is a gift to music. An energetic polymath, Slowik
pokes and prods each score as a scholar, player, or conductor.”
Washington Post
“Slowik has an artistic lucidity like daylight. He moved ahead with the
players, rather than dragging them along. It was a case of everyone not
only being on the same page, but in the same page. So firm was the
partnership that Slowik often conducted with the barest of gestures,
sometimes just standing and listening as the orchestra explored the way
ahead. Then he would step into the picture, guiding here, exhorting
there.”
The New Mexican
“The orchestra was in good hands with this American who excels
equally on the cello, the viola da gamba, the harpsichord, and the
fortepiano, and who has solid foundations in musicology. One took
away from the concert a strong recollection of the harmony of
thought between the conductor and the orchestra. Throughout the
program, one sensed the mutual desire to make Bach resound, to
make it breathe. One felt oneself in the presence of civilized,
honest, brilliant, yet unpretentious musicians, working together
with confidence and with pleasure, all led by the conductor with an
altogether exceptional intelligence and sensitivity.”
Le Soleil (Québec)
“Slowik's profound interaction with Bach's text and music is
everywhere apparent in his direction.”
American Record Guide
“Only a performance as sensitive as Mr. Slowik's to all the minutelyshifting narrative connections that Schönberg's program note sets forth
can make the most of the composer's musical rhetoric.”
New York Times
“Under the direction of Kenneth Slowik, the Smithsonian players have
mastered the elastic tempos and ebb and flow of early-20th-century
style. The performance is utterly convincing in both mood and idiom.”
The Times [London]
“This Charpentier is not only a French baroque gem, but, under the
exquisite direction of harpsichordist/conductor Kenneth Slowik, simply
the best opera Washington has to offer this season.”
W
ashingt
on Post
“Conducting from the harpsichord, Kenneth Slowik paced the entire
opera with surefooted attention to every nuance of Monteverdi's
masterful setting.”
Baltimore Sun
“Slowik paces this Bach Passion in such a thrilling and gripping
manner that one can't help but think of the stage craft of a Hollywood
film. It is breathtakingly, brutally, and unrelentingly dramatic.”
A
lte
Musik
Actuell
e
“Slowik's flowing, intense, and heartfelt performance is its own
reward.”
BBC Music [London]
“Slowik approaches the Strauss work [Metamorphosen] with equal
parts integrity and affection, and the results are revelatory. This is a
recording to put alongside Herbert von Karajan's: to these ears Slowik's
interpretation is no less beautiful and is keener and more particular.”
Strings Magazine
“Slowik renders Strauss's dark, brooding masterpiece with impressive
sympathy and clarity in a near-ideal performance.”
The Audio Adventure
“Slowik elicits a sound much clearer and cleaner than one expects from
a modern orchestra, thus elucidating the musical structure. At the same
time, however, the interpretation is anything but cerebral. The
performance pours forth, spanning great arches despite its attention to
detail, and drawing out in highly nuanced fashion all the music's
expressive possibilities.”
FonoForum
Partial Discography for Kenneth Slowik:
As conductor:
Mahler, arranged by Schoenberg/Riehn: Das Lied von der Erde
Dorian 90322
“Maestro Slowik's new recording, which just
was nominated for a Grammy, is a stunning
addition to the list of legendary readings. As
demonstrated repeatedly throughout his radiant,
colorful, flexible, and responsive conducting
and in his superb liner notes, Slowik has the
full intellectual and emotional grasp of this
unearthly, staggeringly beautiful music.”
The New Mexican,
December 2007
GRAMMY® Award
Nominee for 2008
Mahler, arranged by Schoenberg/Stein: Symphony No. 4,
“Songs of a Wayfarer”
Dorian 90315
“Anyone who cares about Mahler should make a
point of hearing this disc, no matter how many
Fourths are already on his or her shelves. I hope
we will soon need more shelf space for additional
CDs of Slowik’s Mahler. Mahler’s music is no
longer rare, but performances of such freshness,
commitment, and depth are always in short
supply.”
Bernard Sherman at
www.andante.com, December 2003
Schoenberg, Verklärte Nacht; Mahler Adagietto;
Beethoven/Mahler Quartetto Serioso
BMG/deutsche harmonia mundi 05472-77374-2
“Only a performance as sensitive as Mr. Slowik’s
to all the minutely-shifting narrative connections
that Schoenberg’s program note sets forth can
make the most of the composer’s musical rhetoric .
. .”
Richard Taruskin in The
New York Times, February 1997
Richard Strauss, Metamorphosen; Elgar Serenade & Elegy:
Barber Adagio for Strings
BMG/deutsche harmonia mundi 05472-77343-2
“This is a recording to put alongside Herbert van
Karajan’s; to these ears Slowik’s interpretation is
no less beautiful, and is keener and more
particular.”
Strings,
September/October 1996
J.S. Bach, St. John Passion, BWV 245
Smithsonian Collection of Recordings ND0381
“This is one of the most richly faceted and
fascinating recordings that I know. Kenneth
Slowik and his colleagues perform this Passion in
such a thrilling and gripping manner that one can’t
help but think of the stagecraft of a Hollywood
film. It is breathtakingly, brutally, unrelentingly,
and unbelievably dramatic. ”
Alte Musik Aktuell, April
1990
Record of the Month
With the Castle Trio:
Beethoven, The Complete Piano Trios, Vols. 1-4
Virgin Classics VC 7-91126-2;
“Seldom have I heard these works played with
such total mastery.”
Entr’acte (Amsterdam),
December 1990;
British Music Retailers’
Award for Excellence 1990
Virgin Classics VC 7-91442-2;
“The performances have a gripping vitality, boldly
positive playing, and outstanding relish of dynamic
and colour contrasts.”
Gramophone, March 1992
Virgin Classics VC 7-59220-2;
“The performance quality is admirably high,
rhythmically alert, finely graded in tone color, and
most conspicuously, wide in dynamic range
beyond the period-instrument ordinary. Strongly
recommended.”
Fanfare, July/August
1992
Smithsonian Collection of Recordings ND 036
“The Castle players offer some of the best playing
heard on the many recent Beethoven recordings:
brisk, precise and unaffected, their taut manner
moulds tightly knit structures rather than sprawling
architectural complexes, with the result that the
“Ghost” Trio is both more mercurial and more
focussed than in many previous accounts, and the
E-flat Trio more propulsive and more
ingratiating.”
The Strad (London),
December 1991
Schubert, Trio in E-flat Major, D929; Sonatensatz D28
Virgin Classics CDC 7-59303-2
“Any fear that concerns for authentic period
sound and performance style might mute
projection is immediately banished by the Castle
Trio’s rhythmic vitality, sharp-pointed
accentuation and keenness of response. Their
textual and dynamic contrasts make you listen to
this music with fresh ears. In sum, a stimulating
addition to one’s record library.”
Gramophone, November
1993
Smetana Trio in G Minor, Op. 15; DvoÍák, Dumky Trio
Smithsonian Collection of Recordings ND 034
“This recording is a high-water mark of the
historic instrument movement; it casts a dazzling
new light on the music involved, and is one of the
notable recordings of the year.”
The Washington Post,
November 1988
With the Smithson String Quartet:
Haydn, String Quartets Op. 54, Nos. 1 & 2
BMG/deutsche harmonia mundi 77106-2-RG
“These works are heard in this manner for the first
time. They are a revelation, not just in terms of
clarity and timbre, but also in sensitive phrasing
and rich nuance. The best authentic quartet playing
to date!”
Music Week (London), 19
August 1989
Haydn, String Quartets Op. 77, Nos. 1 & 2; Op. 103
EMI CDC 7-49003-2
“The Smithson Quartet’s set of Beethoven’s Op. 18
Quartets confirmed that ensemble’s raging
superlative excellence. So do these late quartets by
Haydn. If you love Haydn’s string quartets, this
production will send you off the deep end
permanently.”
Fanfare, March/April
1989
10 Best of the Year
award, 1989
Beethoven, String Quartets, Op. 18, Nos. 1-6
BMG/deutsche harmonia mundi 77029-2-RC
“A wonderful achievement that strikes me as the
best available integral recording of these endlessly
self-renewing masterpieces.”
CD Review (London),
September 1989
Record of the Month
As cellist:
Beethoven, Sonatas for Piano and Cello, Op. 5, Nos 1 & 2
Smithsonian Collection of Recordings ND 0323
“Slowik makes this music sound really interesting
(as opposed to pleasantly insignificant) for the first
time in my experience. The interpretations are
precise, dynamic, and, I think, breathtakingly close
to what Beethoven must have had in mind.”
The Washington Post,
October 1988
Classical Record of the
Year 1988
Boccherini, String Quintets, Op. 11, Nos. 4-6
BMG/deutsche harmonia mundi RD77159
“The beautiful intonation, the precision of the
attacks, the meticulous control of dynamics, all
make for extremely clean harmony and highlight
the richness of tone
color.”
CD Classica (Rome),
January 1992;
Premio Internazionale
del disco Antonio Vivaldi 1991
Brahms, String Sextets, Opp. 18 & 36
SONY Vivarte SK 68252
“For once, the B-flat Sextet glows with the ‘rested,’
‘morning’ sound that Slowik, in a characteristically
penetrating liner note, finds described in sources
from Brahms’ day. The restless rocking of the
opening of the G Major Sextet sets the stage for a
reading that plumbs new depths in this darkly
lyrical piece. This is deliciously nuanced, deeply
felt Brahms.”
Strings, December 1996
“The Cello and the King of Prussia” (SONY Vivarte SK63360)
Music of Jean-Pierre & Jean-Louis Duport, Luigi
Boccherini, Bernard Romberg, and
Ludwig van Beethoven, performed by Anner Bylsma,
Kenneth Slowik, and Stanley Hoogland
“Surprise gems include two gorgeous studies by the
younger Duport and Boccherini’s Sonata in E-flat
Major for two cellos and fortepiano.”
The Globe and Mail
(Toronto), August, 1998
Corelli, The Twelve Trio Sonatas of Op. 3
Smithsonian Collection of Recordings ND 035
“Here is another of the splendid Smithsonian recreations on period instruments, beautifully
recorded for CD and beautifully, impeccably
played.”
Audio, November 1989
Mendelssohn, Octet, Op. 20 / Neils Gade, Octet, Op. 17
SONY Vivarte SK 48307
“This recording, benefitting from the aura of the
eight Stradivarius instruments used, takes its place
at the head of the best versions existing, among
them notably that by the Academy of St. Martin in
the Fields.”
Diapason (Paris), January
1993
Diapason d’Or for
Chamber Music, 1993
George Onslow, Quintets, Opp. 38, 39, & 40
SONY Vivarte SK 64308
“This is what period-instrument performance
should be all about: the bringing to life of forgotten
music in vibrant, state-of-the-art readings. The
recorded sound is outstanding. Liner notes by
Kenneth Slowik are a model of their kind.
Wholeheartedly recommended!
Continuo, October 1995
Schubert, Quintet in C Major, D956
SONY Vivarte SK 46669
“This new American recording not only easily
ranks with the finest available versions of the
Quintet, but is for this writer one of the two very
best overall—a simply marvelously successful
recording.”
Neue Musikzeitung,
October 1991
Adrien-François Servais, Souvenirs and Caprices
EMI CDC 7-49009-2
“This disc represents several leading periodinstrument players at their best. Anner Bylsma,
playing the “Servais” Strad, brings enormous élan
and bravura to his part. Kenneth Slowik, Vera
Beths, and the Smithsonian Chamber Players
display similar brilliance . . .”
The Strad (London), April
1989
Louis Spohr, Sextet, Op. 140; Octet, Op. 65
SONY Vivarte SK 53307 (Smithsonian Chamber
Players and L’Archibudelli)
“Louis Spohr’s G Major Quintet was considered by
some contemporary critics to rival Beethoven’s
best compositions. Better still are Spohr’s later,
Mendelssohnian Sextet and his sumptuous Octet.
All are performed magnificently in this
collaboration between two leading historicalperformance groups.”
The New Yorker, February
1994
As violist da gamba:
Marin Marais, Pièces à deux violes (1686)
BMG/deutsche harmonia mundi 77146-2-RC
“Slowik, ter Linden, and Junghänel bring a fresh
quality of robustness to the music and cleave
together, even breathing as one, in a remarkable
display of ensemble playing. They show an
enviable mastery of gesture and phrase in
performances of breadth and cohesion.”
Gramophone, March 1991
As violist da gamba and harpsichordist:
François Couperin, Concerts Royaux, Pièces à deux clavecins
BMG/deutsche harmonia mundi 05472-77327-2
“The caressingly elegant programme is rounded off
in sparkling fashion by music for two harpsichords,
engagingly played by James Weaver and the
Chamber Players’ director Kenneth Slowik.”
HiFi World (London),
October 1996