Michael Bowie is an internationally-recognized musician, performing on both the electric and contrabass. With roots in the Washington D.C. jazz and gospel community, he was a recipient of the National Endowment of the Arts Award in Jazz Studies and trained with Betty Carter and Keter Betts.  Michael signed with Verve Records as an original member of “The Harper Brothers”. He went on to perform, record and tour with Abdulla Ibrahim, Michel Pettruciani and many others. Recordings of note include “A Turtle's Dream” with Abbey Lincoln, and the Grammy Award-winning “Look What I Got” with Betty Carter. Michael has expanded his musical interests and performance to include a wide variety of musical forms from jazz to symphonic to rock. He has performed with many musical artists worldwide including Debbie Reynolds and Ricky Skaggs. He has shared his talents in the recording studio and on the stage with jazz greats Sarah Vaughn, Joe Williams, Abbey Lincoln, The Manhattan Transfer, The Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, Della Reese, and Michel Camilo. He has performed in the Newport Jazz Festival, The Playboy Jazz Festival, and other festivals throughout Europe, Japan and South America. In addition to his personal musical career, Michael is deeply involved in developing children's music enrichment. He is a certified teacher in Washington D.C.’s public school system where he directs the Fillmore Art Center’s music department. He composes for and conducts the Fillmore Jazz Ensemble which performs in festivals and major events in the Washington D.C. area. In addition, he is involved with Wolf Trap's Institute for Early Learning program.