Violist Eric Nowlin has performed extensively throughout the United States as well as abroad. He has been described by the Springfield (MO) News-Leader as "having a full, warm tone, expressive phrasing, and effortless technical command that suggest an artist twice his age" and by the Santa Cruz Sentinel as "displaying the remarkable capabilities of the viola, with a rich tone and sensitive interpretive skills." Past accomplishments include receiving second prize in the Walter W. Naumburg Competition, first prize in the 2003 Irving Klein International String Competition; first prize in the 2002 Hellam Young Artists Competition; grand prize in the 2001 Naftzger Young Artists Competition; and winner of the 2001 Juilliard Viola Concerto Competition, which led to a performance of Hindemith's Konzertmusik with Roberto Minzcuk conducting the Juilliard Orchestra in Alice Tully Hall.
Performances have included solo engagements with the Springfield Symphony in Missouri, Santa Cruz Symphony, Peninsula Symphony, and the Kumamoto Symphony in Japan, as well as recitals in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Mexico. Mr. Nowlin has been featured on NPR, WQXR in New York, WGBH in Boston, WFMT in Chicago, as well as television programs in Wisconsin and California. He is an active chamber musician, participating in festivals such as the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont and the Steans Institute for Young Artists at Ravinia. He is a regular member of the Jupiter Chamber Players in New York City, and also tours with Musicians from Marlboro and Musicians from Ravinia's Steans Institute. In addition to solo and chamber music performances, Mr. Nowlin performs regularly as a substitute in the viola section of the New York Philharmonic.
Mr. Nowlin was chosen as the recipient of a Rachel Elizabeth Barton Foundation Grant in 2004, an award intended for the advancement of young artist's performance careers. An active advocate of contemporary music, Mr. Nowlin is a founding member of a dynamic new music series in New York City, Elastic Arts Room, which presents programs that explore the philosophical and cultural contexts of music today through performance and discussion.
Mr. Nowlin received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees from The Juilliard School, as a scholarship student of Samuel Rhodes. He plays on a 1700 Matteo Goffriller viola on generous loan from the Rachel Elizabeth Barton Foundation.