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Cellist who
attended Tanglewood Music Center and Yale
University and studied under Michael Grebanier,
Aldo Parisot, and Anne Martindale Williams.
In 1986, he
toured Europe as the principal cellist
with the Yale Symphony Orchestra.
Other groups with whom he has worked include the Boston Classical
Orchestra, the Boston Pops, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Cape Ann
Symphony Orchestra, Innuendo, the Longwood Symphony Orchestra, the Melrose
Symphony Orchestra, the Music Alive Ensemble, the New Hampshire
Philharmonic, the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, the Parkway Concert
Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Racine Symphony
Orchestra, the Ritz Chamber Players, the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra, and
the San Antonio Chamber Orchestra.
He is also a
part of James Taylor’s band and appears on the 1993 double CD, Live, which cracked the top twenty
on the Billboard album chart. His
discography also includes American
Visions, Holiday Pops, The Latin Album, My Favorite Things: A Richard Rodgers Celebration and
A Splash of Pops by the Boston
Pops, Chris Brubeck: Danzadel
Soul/Michael Gandolfi: Line Drawings/Lucas Foss: Central Park Reel, Leave Your Sleep by Natalie Merchant,
and Live at the Beacon Theatre by James Taylor.
In June 1999,
he participated in the Next Generation Festival, where he and pianist Awadagin Pratt, violinist Derek Reeves and violist Amadi Hummings performed Giya Kancheli’s “Piano
Quartet in L’istesso Tempo”. The program was rounded out by
Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Sonata No. 2 in D” and Johannes
Brahms’ “String Sextet in B flat, Op. 18”.
He and Amadi and pianist Sandra Rivers were the guest artists of
the Music Alive Ensemble at the University
of New Orleans in
2001 where they performed Brahms’ “Piano Quintet”.
On 17th
March 2002, the Renard Quartet, which was rounded
out by violinists Bonnie Bewick and Alexander Velinzon and violist Rachelburg,
gave a recital under the umbrella of the Needham Concert Society.
Amadi, Awadagin, Derek and Owen reunited on 8th September
2002 at the Gateways Music Festival in Bates Recital Hall, where they offered
up Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Duet with Two Obbligato Eyeglasses
in E flat major, WoO 32”, “Sonata for
Piano and Cello in A major, Op. 69” and “Trio in G major, Op.
9, No. 1” and Johann Halvorsen’s “Passacaglia
in G minor for Violin and Viola on a Theme by Handel”.
In April 2005,
Owen and fellow cellist Ronald Crutcher were guest
soloists with the Boston Classical Orchestra in a concert that included
concertos by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Francois Couperin, and Antonio
Vivaldi.
Soprano Janna Baty and Owen were the featured soloists on 2nd
December 2006 when the Longwood Symphony Orchestra performed Leonard
Bernstein’s “Symphony No. 1” (“Jeremiah”),
Brahms’ “Academic Festival Overture” and Camille Saint-Saens’
“Concerto for Cello and Orchestra”.
On 30th
June 2007, he was part of an all-star extravaganza at the Tanglewood Music Festival which was immortalized on
Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion.
Jamie Laredo and James Taylor were on-hand for a smorgasbord of
music that ranged from The Rite of
Spring by Igor Stravinsky to “Why Do Fools Fall in Love” by
Frankie Lyman.
He was the
guest soloist of the Cape Ann Symphony in September 2007, when they
performed the aforementioned Saint-Saens cello concerto as well as the
overture from Oberon by Carl
Maria von Weber and “Symphony No. 5” by Beethoven.
On 15th
January 2008, he and violinist Brian Lewis joined forces with the Miro Quartet at the St. Barth Music Festival on Felix
Mendelssohn’s “Octet”.
He and pianist
Alan Murchie appeared at the Lenox Chamber Music
Festival on 28th July 2008, when they performed “Seven
Variations for Cello and Piano on the Duet ‘Bie
Mannern, welche Liebe fuhlen’ from
Mozart’s The Magic Flute”,
Brahms’ “Sonata for Cello and Piano in E minor, Op. 38”,
Gabriel Faure’s “Elegie for Cello and
Piano, Op. 24” and Camille Saint-Saens’ “Sonata for Cello
and Piano and C minor, Op. 32”.
On 25th
September 2008, he and Kate Markowitz and James and Catherine Taylor were
musical guests at the Clinton Global Initiative Awards in New York City.
He was a
special guest artist with the New Hampshire Philharmonic at the Palace
Theatre in Manchester
on 27th October 2008, where he soloed on Robert Schumann’s
“Cello Concerto”.
The concert opened with “Peer
Gynt Suite No. 1” by Edvard Grieg and concluded with “Symphony No. 9”
by Dmitri Shostakovich.
On 23rd
November 2008, he and violinists Jason Horowitz and Elita
Kang and violist Rebecca Gitter took part in the
Inside Out Series at Arlington Street Church in Boston where they
interpreted “String Quartet No. 2” (“Intimate Letters”)
by Leos Janacek.
He and pianist
Sergey Schepkin and violinist Lucia Lin shared
the stage at 92Y Tribeca in New York on 24th February
2009, when they performed “Trio No. 2 in C minor, Op. 66” by
Mendelssohn. They reprised this
piece on 3th May 2009 at the All-Newton Music
School and rounded
out the recital with Brahms’ “Sonata No. 3 in D minor for
Violin and Piano, Op. 108” and the aforementioned Halvorsen
“Passacaglia”.
On 8th
September 2009, he and James Taylor helped Oprah Winfrey kick off her 24th
season with a sing-along of “How Sweet it Is (to Be Loved By You)”.
The Boston
Pops rang in the holiday season in December 2009 with their annual Holiday
Pops concert, a mixed array that included a version of “The Twelve
Days of Christmas” that managed to incorporate Beethoven’s 5th
and “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen.
In January
2010, James Taylor with his trusty cellist by his side gave a concert to
benefit Haitiat the Mahaiwe Performing Arts
Center, which is
housed in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
Owen and
fellow musicians Cristina Catt, Linda Cutty, Takaaki Masuko and John
McDonald gave a faculty recital at the Longy
School of Music on 1st March 2010 that included “Tango
Nuevo”.
On 7th
March 2010, he was a guest soloist with the Parkway Concert Orchestra in Dedham, Massachusetts,
for a performance of Dvorak’s “Cello Concerto in B minor, Op.
104”.
Members of the
BSO appeared in an “Inside Out Strings & Horn” concert at Arlington Street Church
on 23rd May 2010.
This one featured “Horn Quintet in E flat, K. 407” by
Mozart, with soloist Eli Epstein.
On 6th
November 2010, Lucia Lin and Owen were the soloists when the Melrose
Symphony presented Beethoven’s “Egmont Overture”, Brahms’
“Double Concerto for Violin and Cello”, and Stravinsky’s
1919 version of The Firebird.
Members of the
BSO descended upon Endicott College in Beverly,
Massachusetts, on 13th
March 2011, when they performed Haydn’s “String Quartet in D,
Op. 50, No. 6” (“The Frog” and
Franz Schubert’s “String Quartet in C, D. 956”.
On 27th
March 2011, another “Inside Out” concert took place at Arlington Street Church,
this one featuring music of Beethoven.
The “Inside Out String Quartet” comprised Owen and
violinists Jason Horowitz and Julianne Lee and violist Rebecca Gitter.
Owen and
pianist Joy Cline Phinney and violinist Lucia Lin
performed works by Beethoven, Frederic Chopin, Dvorak and Erwin Schulhoff at the All-Newton Music
School on 10th
April 2011.
On 1st
July 2011, he found himself in familiar territory as James Taylor joined
forces with the Boston Pops and John Williams at Tanglewood.
He and
violinists Jason Horowitz and Elita Kang and
violist Rebecca Gitter performed quartets by
Beethoven and Faure at the Lenox Athenaeum on 25th July
2011. Proceeds from the concert
went to the Berkshire Humane Society.
In November
2011, this same group gave a pair of recitals at Hingham Congregational
Church and St. John’s
Episcopal Church that included Beethoven’s “String Quartet No.
3 in D, Op. 18, No. 3” and Schumann’s “String
Quartet No. 1 in A minor, Op. 41, No. 1”.
In the field
of music education, Owen has taught at Boston Conservatory and the Longy School of Music.
Sources:
- http://www.yankeemagazine.com/issues/2008-07/features/people-new-england-meet-fun-qu/musician
- http://www.ritzchamberplayers.org/about/players
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_%28James_Taylor_album%29
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_at_the_Beacon_Theatre
- http://modeweekly.com/2000/00.05.25/00.05.25_next_gen_festival.htm
- http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1132198/a/Latin+Album.htm
- http://www.musicaliveno.com/events.html
- http://www.needhamconcertsociety.org/history.html
- http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/3115695/a/My+Favorite+Things%3A+A+Richard+Rodgers+Celebration.htm
- http://www.gatewaysmusicfestival.com/articles/pratt.htm
- http://www.bostonclassicalorchestra.org/about/messages-from-board/
- http://www.longwoodsymphony.org/images/Repertoire_List_2000-2011.pdf
- http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/2007/06/30/music.shtml
- http://www.capeannvacations.com/festival-event.cfm?id=608
- http://weekly97.o2switch.net/pdf/Weekly%20135.pdf
- http://www.lenoxathenaeum.org/pdfs/youngAndMurchie.pdf
- http://www.katemarkowitz.com/news.shtml
- http://www.nhphilharmonic.org/ContactUs/PressReleases/PressReleases07-08.html
- http://www.eliepstein.com/pastevents.html
- http://www.schepkin.com/Frame-2-concertspage2.html?refresh=1271607503985
- http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/James-Taylor-Performs-Youve-Got-a-Friend-Video
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suosLwFyFls
- http://www.necn.com/Boston/Arts-Entertainment/2009/12/10/Boston-Pops-prepare-to-kickoff/1260453532.html
- http://www.discogs.com/Natalie-Merchant-Leave-Your-Sleep/release/2751626
- http://blog.timesunion.com/localarts/james-taylor-helps-raise-more-than-500000-for-haiti/4159/
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtLMxDX7n00
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRcsKLsoysI
- http://artscalendar.endicott.edu/EventList.aspx?view=EventDetails&eventidn=288&information_id=1606&type=&rss=rss
- http://www.yoichiudagawa.com/twothousandten.html
- http://www.allnewtonmusicschool.com/concerts/wolf3.html
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erwin_Schulhoff
- http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/music/1111/classical/brubeck_gandolfi_foss.htm
- http://referencerecordings.blogspot.com/2011_06_01_archive.html
- http://www.berkshirefinearts.com/07-02-2011_james-taylor-marathon-at-tanglewood.htm
- https://www.formspring.com/forms/?627616-dZWaRtCYIz
- http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/showthread.php?75963-New-Faculty-at-Berklee-Fall-2011-%28Mandolin-content!%29
- http://melrose.patch.com/events/melrose-symphony-opening-fall-concert
- http://www.patriotledger.com/entertainment/x267837044/Boston-Symphony-quartet-plays-at-Hingham-church
- http://www.bso.org/media/3161204/ccc_11-12_final_brochure.pdf
- http://www.goldstar.com/events/boston-ma/boston-classical-orchestra-viva-vivaldi
- http://www.yoichiudagawa.com/saintsaens.html
- http://www.artistdirect.com/artist/owen-young/887155
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