Prof. Keith Bowen FRS qualified in Metallurgy at Oxford University, UK, and spent thirty years as an engineering professor and researcher, followed by ten years as technical director of a public scientific instrument company. Since (partially!) retiring in 2005 he studied for a Diploma in Music and MA in Music at the Open University (UK), both awarded with Distinction. He specialized in classical-period performance practice and in the history of the bass clarinet in A. His paper on the bass clarinet in A won first prize at the International Clarinet Association and joint first prize at the European Clarinet Association Research Competitions, both in 2010, and has been published in Rohrblatt and The Clarinet.

He is continuing his studies at the Royal College of Music, London, where he is a RCM Scholar supported by a Pamela Weston Award, working on the early bassoon-form bass clarinets.

A lifelong amateur clarinetist, he performs 2^nd clarinet, basset horn and bass clarinet with the professional-amateur Spires Philharmonic Orchestra, Coventry, UK, of which he is also Chairman. He is President of Kammermusik Workshops (Santa Fe, NM USA), and is a woodwind coach at the Ischia Chamber Music Festival, Italy. He has studied clarinet with Lesley Schatzberger (UK), Lori Lovato (New Mexico Symphony Orchestra) and Forest Aten (Dallas Opera) and bass clarinet with Sarah Watts (soloist, UK). He plays Wurlitzer Schmidt Reform A, B flat and C clarinets, Stephen Fox basset horns, E flat clarinet and basset clarinet extension, and Buffet Prestige and Fritz Wurlitzer bass clarinets. He also maintains and restores vintage clarinets.