Renowned for her beautiful tone and elegant playing, guitarist Candice Mowbray captivates audiences with her expressive artistry. From the lively acrobatics of Ida Presti’s Danse rythmique to the poignant depths of Fernando Sor’s Fantaisie élégiaque, her performances are thoughtful, melodic, and sincere. A famous ballerina remarked that her music “makes me want to dance!” while guitar virtuoso John Feeley praised her as "a beautiful player, so expressive and musical."

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As a dynamic soloist, collaborative musician, and guest lecturer, Candice has graced the stages of prestigious festivals and concert series, including the Philadelphia Classical Guitar Society, Ibero-American Guitar Festival at the Smithsonian, Peabody Fretfest, Toronto Guitar Weekend, Guitar Foundation of America International Convention, International Guitar Competition Ida Presti, and the John E. Marlow Guitar Series. Her performances with ensembles such as Washington National Opera, Maryland Symphony Orchestra, Wolf Trap Opera, Satori, and the Mowbray-Webber Duo reflect an impressive breadth of musical versatility spanning classical, electric, and steel-string acoustic guitar. 

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In 2020, Candice was recognized by the State of Maryland with the Independent Artist Award for her outstanding career in the field of music and she has been a featured guest on numerous podcasts such as Classical Guitar Heroines, Knox Guitar Box, Classical Guitar Dispatch, Tactical Guitarist, Guitaromanie, and Creative Conversations with Roger Humphrey discussing her music, career, teaching, and research. Her CD, Reverie, has been featured on radio shows such as InTune (BBC Radio 3), The Intimate Guitar (Dayton, OH), G-Strings with Tom Cole (Washington D.C.) and Musica Mundi (Boulder, CO), and Blair Jackson of Classical Guitar Magazine called the album, "A revelation!" and one of the Top 10 CD picks of the year. This album cleverly intertwines twentieth century and contemporary French compositions through homage, and features rarely recorded solo works by legendary guitar duo of Ida Presti and Alexandre Lagoya.

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Beyond performance, Dr. Mowbray is a passionate educator. She has taught guitar, music history, theory, ensemble and pedagogy for institutions such as Shenandoah Conservatory, Shepherd University, and Hagerstown and Frederick community colleges. She now enjoys sharing her commitment to music, knowledge and experiences through research, lectures, classes and workshops as an independent teaching artist.

 

Mowbray delivers engaging musical talks and workshops that are celebrated for their depth, insight, and ability to connect meaningfully with audiences. Her talks were praised as "enthusiastic" and "insightful" in Classical Guitar Magazine and The Morning Call. Although Mowbray lectures on a variety of topics, she is especially noted for her scholarship on the contributions of women in the history of guitar. She contributed significant research and writing to Legado, an incredible recording project by guitarist Berta Rojas, which won two Latin Grammy Awards including Best Classical Album. Candice’s doctoral thesis, "Ida Presti as a Solo Performer and Composer of Works for Solo Guitar," has proven to be a impactful and influential document, and she has multiple articles published in Guitar Foundation of America journals Soundboard and Prodigies. Mowbray's current area of study is related to the subjects of performance psychology, nervous system regulation and mindfulness applied to pedagogy and practice.

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Candice's education is expansive and gained through formal schooling, private lessons, independent study and extensive travels. She earned the Doctorate of Musical Arts in Classical Guitar Performance at Shenandoah Conservatory where she studied with Dr. Glenn Caluda. Also influential were private lessons and masterclasses with many legendary artists including Berta Rojas, Carlos Barbosa-Lima, Sharon Isbin, Roland Dyens, Julian Gray, Gerry Kunkel, Angel Romero, Ricardo Cobo, Eduardo Isaac, Maximo Diego Pujol, Victor Villadangos and many others. She obtained micro-certification from the Bartol Foundation for trauma-informed practice for teaching artists and studied Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction with Mindfulness Sussex. Recent professional development activities include studying healthy and natural approaches to instrumental music performance with Musician’s Wellness of North America and earning the Pedagogy Certificate from Till Project, an approach to playing that combines the laws of physical movement with the laws of the instrument itself in service of the music. 

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In addition to performance, teaching, and research, Candice has been active in administrative aspects of the arts throughout her long career. In addition to being a self-managed artist, she worked has worked in non-profit development, marketing and educational outreach; worked with Marlow Guitar International as an Education and Grants Specialist; served as a grant panelist and editor for the Maryland State Arts Council; participated as a board member and volunteer; and provides consultation to artists and non-profit arts organizations.

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