Mikowai currently studies at the Music Institute of Chicago under Ralph Neiweem and Claire Aebersold.
Eighteen-year-old pianist Mikowai Ashwill was born in California. He began his musical studies at age nine and currently studies at the Music Institute of Chicago under Ralph Neiweem and Claire Aebersold. He is a scholarship recipient of the National Chopin Foundation Scholarship 2012, and a Musichorale Scholarship competition winner in 2014. Along with these awards, he has also been a prize winner in the 2012 Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition, 2013 Hope College Young Artists Piano Competition, 2013 DePauw Young Artists Piano Competition, and the 2011 Geneva Granquist Music Competition. He has also participated in the CAMTA Chicago Sonata festival competition, and won gold medals in both 2012 and 2013.
Mikowai has participated in multiple music festivals including the Chicago Duo Piano Festival. He was invited to participate in the 2013 Colburn Young Artists Piano Festival where he spent two intensive weeks studying under renowned pedagogues. He has also taken masterclasses or studied under Awadagin Pratt, James Giles, Robert Shannon, Paul Barnes, Scott McBride-Smith, Ory Shihor, and Meng-Chieh Liu.
This summer, Mikowai has been invited to participate in the Amalfi Coast International Music Festival in Italy, and the prestigious Orford Arts Centre Academy in Quebec to study under Marc Durand. In addition, he will be performing at Chicago Cultural Center’s Preston Bradley Hall.