Gerald Fowkes, Nominations
Gerald Fowkes, cellist and conductor, is a 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. He has participated in master classes with cellists Gary Hoffman, Aldo Parisot, Erling
Blöndal Bengtsson, and Paul Katz, amongst others. In addition, he holds a Master of Music Education from Brigham Young University where he studied string pedagogy with Andrew Dabczynski and Samuel Tsugawa. A Northern Virginia native, Fowkes is an alumnus of the American Youth Philharmonic and a past Virginia Emerson Scholar at the National Music Camp at Interlochen, Michigan.
From 2014 to the present, Mr. Fowkes serves as Director of Orchestras at Fairfax High School. The Fairfax Orchestras have been invited to perform at such venues as Chicago’s Symphony Center and New York’s Carnegie Hall, amongst others. Most recently, The Fairfax Chamber Orchestra was an invited performer at the 2022 VMEA
Conference. From 2003-2014 he taught in Prince William County Schools and was the recipient of the 2014 Dale City Civic Association High School Teacher of the Year. In addition to his duties at Fairfax, he is on the artist faculty of the Greater Washington Suzuki Institute and the Summer String Intensive at GMU. Mr. Fowkes was most recently the conductor of the Young Artist Orchestra of the DC Youth Orchestra Program, and, from 2017-2020, Music Director and Conductor of the McLean Youth Orchestra. Prior to those positions, he was on the conducting staff of the Youth Orchestras of Prince William from 2004-2017. Mr. Fowkes has had the distinct honor of guest conducting numerous All-County, District and Regional Honor Orchestras throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia and Maryland and is a frequent guest conductor at the annual JMU Spring String Thing. In addition to guest
conducting, he has presented at various music conferences including the 2016 ASTA Conference and a featured clinician at the 2025 Midwest Clinic.
Mr. Fowkes is currently a member of the George Mason University faculty, teaching applied cello, as well as courses in cello pedagogy, class strings, and chamber music. He is a frequent chamber music collaborator and a past chamber music fellow at the Hot Springs Music Festival and the Park City International Music Festival. A former
member of the Baton Rouge Symphony, he performs frequently as a freelance cellist throughout the Baltimore/Washington metro area. Mr. Fowkes maintains a private cello studio at his home where he resides with his wife and four children.
