Gerald Fowkes

Concert Orchestra Conductor

GERALD FOWKES, Concert Orchestra Conductor, is a 2001 graduate of Louisiana State University where he graduated summa cum laude in Cello Performance. His former teachers and mentors include Dennis Parker, Loran Stephenson, Wesley Baldwin and Pamela Frame. In addition, he has studied conducting with Jindong Cai and Michael Butterman and participated in master classes with cellists Gary Hoffman, Aldo Parisot, Erling Blöndal Bengtsson, and Paul Katz, amongst others. A product of Prince William County Schools, he is an alumnus of both the Youth Orchestras of Prince William (YOPW) and the American Youth Philharmonic and a past Virginia Governor's Scholar at the National Music Camp at Interlochen, Michigan. A former member of the Baton Rouge Symphony, he performs frequently as a freelance cellist throughout the Baltimore/Washington metro area.

Mr. Fowkes is currently the Director of Orchestras at Gar-Field Sr. High School. Prior to his tenure at Gar-Field he taught at Woodbridge Sr. High School and Stonewall Middle School where his orchestras consistently received Superior ratings at District Orchestra Assessment and national festivals in New York and Philadelphia. He has had the distinct honor of conducting All-County Orchestras in Fauquier, Prince William, Spotsylvania, and Stafford Counties and was invited to guest conduct at the 2010 JMU Spring String Thing. In addition, he regularly serves as an adjudicator for various festivals throughout the Northern Virginia region. Mr. Fowkes maintains a private cello studio at his home where he resides with his wife, Becky, daughters, Scout and Eleanor, and son, Isaak.