The English bass, composer and conductor, Owain Park, began his musical journey with the piano, later becoming a chorister at St Mary Redcliffe Church in Bristol, before joining the National Youth Choir of Great Britain. He studied at Queen Elizabeth's Hospital, Bristol (2005-2010); and obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree (BA) in Music from the University of Cambridge (2013-2016). He was assistant conductor of the RSCM Millennium Youth Choir from 2012 to 2014, working closely with David Ogden and Daniel Moult on cathedral and foreign tours and recordings.
In 2014, Owain Park founded The Gesualdo Six, a vocal sextet specialising in the performance of renaissance polyphony. The ensemble has since gone on to perform concerts in UK and abroad, with a diverse repertoire spanning Ockeghem, Orlando di Lasso and Taverner to Ligeti, Marsh and Harvey, and were St John’s Smith Square Young Artists 2015-2016. He was appointed as Cambridge Chorale’s new director in summer 2016.
Owain Park's compositions have been awarded first prize in a number of national and international competitions, including those organised by the National Centre for Early Music (NCEM), Reverie, the Phoenix Singers’, the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus, the Jackdaws Music Trust, and A Carol for Christmas (in association with the King’s Singers and Classic FM). He has also won prizes in the BBC Young Composer of the Year, the King James Bible Awards, the HMC Young Composers’ Competition, the St George’s Bristol Carol Competition, and the ‘Sing a New Song’ carol-writing competition.
Owain Park is a composer based in the UK. His works are published by Novello and have been performed internationally by ensembles including the The Tallis Scholars (Director: Peter Phillips), Ensemble Aurora (Director: Enrico Gatti) and the Det Norske Solistkor (Norwegian Soloists’ Choir). He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists (FRCO), and was awarded the Dixon Prize for improvisation. He currently sings in The Trinity College Choir of Cambridge (Director: Stephen Layton). as a postgraduate student studying for a Masters in composition, having been Senior Organ Scholar at Wells Cathedral (September 2012-July 2013) and Trinity College Cambridge (since September 2013).
Recordings of his work have been made by Tenebrae (Director: Nigel Short), ORA (Director: Suzi Digby), the Choir of Wells Cathedral (Director: Matthew Owens) and The Trinity College Choir of Cambridge (Director: Stephen Layton). His chamber opera, The Snow Child, was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in summer 2016. His compositions have also been broadcast on BBC Radios 3 and 4, Classic FM, and Australian, American, Norwegian, German, Danish and Swedish radio stations. He currently lives in Cambridge. |