He is a violinist and concertmaster born on a farm in Hamiota, Manitoba, Canada to a musical family where his mother was a singer, his brother Darren has been concertmaster of the Quebec Symphony Orchestra, his brother Cameron is a cellist with the Regina Symphony Orchestra and his father was a violinist who gave him his first violin lessons when he was just three years old.
After moving to Saskatchewan, where the family made their home in Regina, when he was nine years old, he entered the Regina Conservatory of Music. He remained there for 9 years and received tuition from the former London Philharmonic concertmaster Howard Leyton-Brown. He took further studies at the Meadowmount School of Music from 1970 to 1973 and the Curtis Institute of Music from 1971 and counted Jaime Laredo and Sally Thomas amongst his tutors.
In 1972 he won the CBC Talent Contest and in 1973 performed as the concertmaster at the New York Christmas String Seminar. The following year in 1974 he played in Puerto Rico as a member of the Casals Festival Orchestra.
In 1975 he joined the Regina Symphony Orchestra as their concertmaster, staying with them until 1976 and the following year he became the concertmaster for the Quebec Symphony Orchestra. He remained with them until 1983 and during his time with them he entered the Montreal International Violin Competition and became a laureate winner.
In 1983 he joined the Worcester Symphony Orchestra in Massachusetts and by 1984 had been given the position of concertmaster at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, being just the 10th since it began in 1881, and has remained with them ever since. He also performs with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players and as a soloist for them in the orchestra’s home at Symphony Hall as well as at Tanglewood.
A sought after guest musician with other orchestras, he has given performances with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Scotia Festival of Music and Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
In the field of musical education he is on the faculties of Boston University, the New England Conservatory and Tanglewood Music Center.
His wife is the professional violinist Nisanne Lowe.
Sources:
- http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1ARTU0002114
- http://www.bso.org/bso/mods/bios_detail.jsp?id=1200012
- http://www.stokowski.org/Principal_Musicians_Boston_Symphony.htm
- http://www.violin.org/2002comp/lowe.html
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Symphony_Orchestra#Orchestra_musicians
- http://www.lowesmusicalmastery.com/testimonials.htm