- Email:
- msowka@iu.edu
Michael Sowka is academic specialist in music in piano technology at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
His musical training started as a student of the cello, studying with Raya Garbousova and Mark Johnson at Northern Illinois University and Lowell Creitz at the University of Wisconsin.
While at Wisconsin, Sowka became interested in piano technology and engaged in a three-year course of study with then-head piano technician Joel Jones.
Sowka moved to Chicago and began working for one of the major Steinway dealerships, Hendricks Music. There, he received intensive concert technician training. He also trained at Steinway Hall’s basement concert selection room and in California at the Yamaha concert school.
Since 1989, Sowka has been the piano technician for the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. He is also a Yamaha concert consultant and has traveled extensively to work on pianos across the country.