The Musicians

Jan Boland & John Dowdall have concertised together as the Boland-Dowdall Flute & Guitar Duo since 1979. They are the founders of the 501(c)3 organization – Red Cedar Chamber Music .

They hooked up while both doing graduate work at the University of Iowa. Both had an avid interest in music history and early music performance practices. Eventually their researches and interests led them to a specialization of early 19th-century music on period instruments. Today, their music gives listeners equal doses of the antique and the avant garde; they annually commission and premiere new works by leading composers. Their work as the Boland-Dowdall Duo is highlighted below. But first...

John Dowdall is a professional chamber musician and musicologist who specializes in performance on early nineteenth-century guitars. In 1992 the National Endowment for the Arts awarded him a Solo Recitalist Fellowship for performances of nineteenth-century chamber music.

He performs with the Boland-Dowdall Duo, winners of the l987 Professional Chamber Music Competition sponsored by the National Flute Association, touring throughout the United States and Europe. He has appeared at the Boston Early Music Festival and played the first dedicatory recital at the newly renovated Shrine to Music Museum in Vermillion South Dakota, one of the world's leading instrument museums. He was featured with the Boland-Dowdall Duo at the fifth Tage Alter Musik festival in Regensburg Germany in May l989 and in a series of five concerts in and around Boston under the sponsorship of The Cambridge Society for Early Music in January of 1992. In August of 1993 he performed in Magnano, Italy for the Festival Musica Antica a Magnano, and in1994 he performed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York using instruments from the museum's collection. In 1999 the Duo appeared at the Kennedy Center on the Millennium Stage Series.

He has performed at the National Convention of the Music Teachers National Association and has given lecture/recitals on Nineteenth Century Flute and Guitar Duets at a Symposium of the Guitar Division of the American String Teachers Association and at a joint meeting of the American Musicological Society and the American Musical Instrument Society. He has also appeared as a guest performer at National Flute Association conventions on numerous occasions.

His compact discs titled Giuliani, Hummel et al. A Potpourri of l9th-Century Salon Music on Period Instruments (1988), and Rossini, Mozart et al. Serenades for the l9th-Century Salon (1992) were each named Recording of the Month by Alte Musik Aktuell of Regensberg, Germany. These recordings include a unique collection of original editions of 19th-century salon music which Dowdall presented in his MA thesis, Early l9th-century Duets for Flute and Guitar in the Library of Congress. Both discs are on the Titanic label and feature Dowdall on l9th-century, gut-strung guitar and his partner Jan Boland on keyed, wooden flutes. His most recent compact disc, Vintage Viennese, was released in January 2000 by Fleur De Son Classics.

Also active as a composer/arranger, his Christmas Medley of l9th-century Carols for Flute and Guitar and The Foster Collection: Music of Stephen Foster arranged for flute and guitar are published by ALRY. He studied at the Hochschule fur Musik in Vienna and holds degrees in guitar performance, music theory and musicology (MA, University of Iowa, 1982). He studied with Jeffrey Van and Karl Scheit.

Jan Boland has appeared as a flute soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Europe, the Philippines, China, and Canada. The National Endowment for the Arts in Washington D.C. awarded Jan Boland the highly coveted Solo Recitalist Fellowship for 1993-96: the award is given to "the nation's most promising solo instrumentalists to hone their musical virtuosity, and to enable these exceptional musicians to showcase their talents before a wide array of American audiences."

As flutist with the Boland-Dowdall Flute and Guitar Duo, recognized internationally as a leading early music ensemble, Jan performs the 19th-century salon of Europe and America on an eleven-keyed wooden flute. The Duo performed on the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. in 1999 as representatives of the State of Iowa. The Boland-Dowdall Duo was named the 1987 winner of the National Chamber Music Competition sponsored by the National Flute Association. Boland and Dowdall have been featured performers at the Tage Alter Musik early music festival in Regensburg Germany, Festival Musica Antica in Magnano Italy, California Summer Arts, and the Boston Early Music Festival. In 1995 &1999, the Duo gave concerts at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, performing on rare instruments from the Museum's collection. Boland's six compact disc recordings are on the Fleur De Son Classics, Titanic , Koch, and Centaur record labels. Two discs were named best disc of the month by the German early music publication Alte Musik Actuell.

Jan has been a featured performer at eight national conventions of the National Flute Association, including those in Washington D.C. and New York. She was named winner of the 1979 baroque flute competition of the NFA.

Boland was selected to a 26-member delegation from the National Flute Association to participate in a cultural exchange in the Peoples Republic of China. Boland has served on the Board of Directors of the National Flute Association and for five years chaired its Grants and Development Committee. In her capacities as an adjudicator, Jan served as a judge for competitions of the National Flute Association, including the International Young Artist Competition, the Baroque Flute Competition, and the Chamber Music Competition. She also served for three years as coordinator of the Young Artist Competition.

Dr. Boland is in demand as a teacher at summer festivals throughout the United States; in recent summers she has been on the faculty of the Boxwood Flute Symposium, California Summer Arts Festival, North Carolina's Wildacres Flute Symposium, and most recently at Red Cedar Chamber Music Festival (which she founded with John Dowdall). Boland is an adjunct faculty member at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

A respected scholar, her Method for One-Keyed Flute is published by the University of California Press/ Berkeley & London. The Method was named a winner of the National Flute Association's Newly Published Music Competition in 2000. Boland's editions of 19th-century flute music are published by Indiana University Press, ALRY and Southern Music. She has self-published the Historical Flute Tutor Series, a collection of 19th-century flute method books. In 1996, her edition of Stephen Foster's Parlor Music was named a winner of the Newly Published Music competition of the National Flute Association.

She is an Artist/Teacher at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Boland holds a Doctorate in Musical Arts in Flute Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Iowa. She studied with Betty Bang Mather and Jerrold Pritchard and in master classes with Jean-Pierre Rampal, Peter Lloyd, Michel DeBost, Stephen Preston, and Robert Dick, and Chris Norman.

Boland-Dowdall Duo 1981 concert photo

 

Boland-Dowdall Duo Highlights:

| Concert Reviews |

The Boland-Dowdall Duo is the core ensemble in residence with Red Cedar Chamber Music. The Duo also tours nationally and internationally, bringing innovative and entertaining concert programs and residency programs to broad and diverse audiences.

Boland and Dowdall are featured on the Performing Artists Roster of the Iowa Arts Council, selected through a rigorous review process that evaluates the artistic quality of the artistic presentation, experience in touring, and demonstrated ability to develop marketing and promotional materials for sponsors and market and promote performances.

Boland and Dowdall are noted on the Teaching Artists Roster of the Iowa Arts Council. Artists represented in this roster have successfully undergone a peer panel review process that evaluates their artistic and instructional abilities and achievements as they relate to Artists in Schools and Communities Residencies.

HIGHLIGHTS

	The Duo's performing expertise and broad repertoire captured the attention of the National Endowment of the Arts. The NEA awarded to each, Jan Boland and John Dowdall, highly coveted Solo Recitalist Fellowships. The awards, totaling $11,000, were for performances in New York City, Brigham Young University, and California. Only eleven such fellowships were awarded during this particular granting round.
	The Boland-Dowdall Duo records exclusively for Fleur De Son Classics. The Duo is dedicated to performing 19th-century music on period instruments for the purpose of attempting to recapture the spirit of the music on the instruments used at the time. The Duo's compact disc recordings feature period instruments (not copies) dating from c.1812 - c.1860. They have previously recorded for Titanic Records of Boston, Koch International Classics of New York.
	In 1994, and again in 1999, the Duo performed a concert at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York featuring nineteenth-century music played on rare flutes and rare guitars from the Museum's own instrument collection. The performance was supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1998 these instruments were loaned to the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art in Cedar Rapids Iowa for the purpose of performing a concert and making a compact disc recording. The collaboration marked only the second time that the Met has loaned musical instruments for the purpose of performances.
	Festival Musica Antica a Magnano. The Duo performed a candlelit concert in a twelfth-century church for a standing-room-only audience; part of an early music festival in Magnano, Italy. The Boland-Dowdall Duo charmed audiences "with no end of grace and wit" in a set of six concerts in historic settings in and around Boston, sponsored by the Cambridge Society for Early Music. The Duo was also broadcast live in concert for WGBH Boston.
	The medieval city of Regensburg provided the ideal setting to recreate the music of the past. The Duo's performance was declared a highlight of the three-day Tage Alter Musik early music festival. The concert was recorded and rebroadcast by Bavarian Radio. The Duo was interviewed and performed for European Journal (United States National Public Television program).
	Boland and Dowdall have commissioned and premiered dozens of new works for modern flute and guitar. The Iowa Arts Council has generously funded many of these commissions and performances.
	Arts America US Information Service Washington D.C. 20657 The Boland-Dowdall Duo is on the "recommended" roster of artists of Arts America which the United States Information Agency sends to U.S. Embassies throughout the world.
	The Boland-Dowdall Duo took top honors in the National Chamber Music Competition sponsored by the National Flute Association. The Duo has performed frequently at the national conventions of The National Flute Association. At the 1996 New York Convention the Duo performed in three programs; the first was a chamber music concert devoted to flute guitar & harp; the Duo performed Owen's Meshquanowat which they commissioned. The second performance was a trio for flute, guitar, and viola performed on a special concert featuring the early nineteenth-century flute. And finally, the Duo performed tunes by Stephen Foster on the Newly Published Music concert: the Duo's new edition of Foster's music arranged for flute & guitar was one of 15 winners (of 300 submissions) of the Newly Published Music competition. At the 1998 Phoenix Convention, the Duo performed on a concert titled Thoebald Who? featuring keyed flutes. At the 2000 Columbus Convention, the Duo performed new works by John Thow (Return to Roslin Castle) and Katherine Hoover (Caprice).

CONCERT REVIEWS

"...no end of grace and wit. Intimate music-making much enjoyed by all."
The Tech, Boston

"Jan Boland played her flute with soft, warm, delicate but also intense tone, is a master of ornamentation, and easily handled the notable virtuosity demanded by this music. John Dowdall played tenderly, with a delicate and beautiful tone. The enthusiastic applause was justly deserved."
Mittelbayerische Zeitung (Middle Bavarian Newspaper)

"Their concert must be counted among the high points of the festival. Above all, Jan Boland was brilliant on the flute and brought an unorthodox, provocative flute interpretation to the highest technical level."
Musica Sacra

"A high point. An enrapturing performance by the excellent flutist Jan Boland."
Das Musikinstrument

"Music filled with intimate shadings and coloration. They enchanted the audience with lovely musical gems."
Die Welt

"A wise choice. Showed the ingenuity to interpret archival research with a charming performance style."
Die Woche

"You have set a new standard of excellence for our series."
California State University: San Bernardino

"they wowed everybody."
Chuck Offenberger, Des Moines Register