Owen Walton

Owen Walton was born and educated in Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire, where he studied piano from an early age. Whilst in his teens, Owen discovered a passion for composition that resulted in his being awarded the Performance Channel Young Composer of the Year Award in 1997. Subsequently he studied composition with Steve Martland, Vic Hoyland and Richard Causton. His orchestral works have been played in the UK and Europe.

Owen graduated from The University of Birmingham with a BMus 1^st Class (Hons) in 2002 and has completed a Masters Degree by research, writing a thesis on genre in musical theatre (concentrating on the stage works of George Gershwin). He recently contributed to The American and British Musical Conference hosted by Bristol University, presenting a paper on unpublished Gershwin sources, and has written programme notes for the Barber Institute Celebrity Concerts series and CBSO Centre Stage. He has held academic posts at the Birmingham School of Acting and Ashby School (Head of Music).

As a pianist Owen has performed recitals and concertos across the UK and an interest in musical theatre has lead to his involvement in countless opera and musical productions including the UK national tour of Calamity Jane. He is currently furthering his keyboard studies at the RWCMD, Cardiff.

Owen’s primary musical concerns are music for theatre, 20^th century orchestral music, jazz, the music of Mozart and Mahler, and vocal music, but he is generally interested in anything musical.