About Patrick

Patrick Fowler is a double bassist and educator based in Silver Spring, MD. He has led a musically diverse career that includes orchestral work, wind ensembles, chamber music, electric bass, pit orchestra for musicals and operas, and everything in between.

As an educator, Patrick currently teaches in Montgomery County Public Schools where he leads two high school concert bands, two high school string orchestras, and teaches AP Music Theory. He is currently the Conductor of the MCPS Junior Honors Orchestra, an ensemble for which he also served as manager and bass sectional coach from 2022-2024. He has previously taught in the Howard County Public Schools System where he taught elementary and middle school orchestra and strings sectionals.

During the summer in between Spring and Fall semesters of college, Patrick was a double bassist at the Brevard Music Center, and has been a fellow at the National Orchestra Institute + Philharmonic. In high school, he performed with the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Orchestra and National Jazz Workshop at Shenandoah Conservatory.

Originally from Potomac, Maryland, Patrick began his musical life at 4 years old taking group piano lessons. By age 8, he began taking private piano lessons from Eric Himy, and briefly took guitar lessons at age 9. At the transition to middle school, he began to learn the double bass from his middle school orchestra teacher, and started taking private bass lessons by age 11. Throughout his secondary education, he was active in the Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras program, and served in the Maryland All-State ensembles from 2009-2013, in addition to being a member of the NAfME All-Eastern Orchestra in 2013. From 2007 to 2013, Patrick studied with Ed Malaga and Ira Gold.

He received his B.M. and B.M.E. from the University of Maryland studying with Robert Oppelt of the National Symphony Orchestra, with supplementary lessons, studio classes, and repertoire classes by Richard Barber (NSO) and Anthony Manzo. He is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Music Education at UMD, and regularly performs with the Capital Wind Symphony, Great Falls Philharmonic, and Prince George’s Philharmonic. Patrick performs on a double bass made in Bielefeld, Germany around 1950 with a distinctive Brescian-style scroll and a bow by Sam Kolstein & Son.