Andrew Owens

Winner of the Zarzuela prize at the 2015 Francisco Viñas International Singing Competition, American tenor Andrew Owens has quickly built a reputation as one of the most promising singers of his generation, exhibiting a beautiful Italianate timbre, soaring top notes, and effortless agility.

In 2016-2017, Andrew Owens will return to the Theater an der Wien for a debut as Mads in Werner Egk’s Peer Gynt. Other house and role debuts include the title role in Rossini’s rarely heard Aureliano in Palmira and Jaquino in Fidelio with the Caramoor Festival, Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola at Arizona Opera, Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Opera San Antonio and Virginia Opera, and Barbarigo in Verdi’s I due Foscari with the Dutch Radio Filharmonisch Orkest at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Concert highlights include an evening of music by Schubert and The Beatles with the New York Festival of Song in Moab, Utah and Kansas City, and his South American debut as Ferrando in Così fan tutte with the Orquestra Filârmonica de Minas Gerais in Brazil.

In the 2015-2016 season, Andrew Owens made his company and role debut with Florida Grand Opera as Count Almaviva, a role he later reprised in the season for his company debut with North Carolina Opera. He made his company and role debut with Seattle Opera as the Earl of Leicester in a new production of Maria Stuarda and will return in future seasons. Mr. Owens operatic season concluded with the Dayton Opera in conjunction with the Dayton Philharmonic for a double bill performance, pairing the world premiere of The Book Collector, composed by Stella Sung, with Orff’s Carmina Burana. Highlights of Mr. Owens’ orchestral engagements included his debut with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra in Germany for performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.

Mr. Owens is a graduate of the Junges Ensemble at the Theater an der Wien, where he performed Chevalier Léon in La mere coupable, Rodolfo in La bohème, Edoardo in La cambiale di matrimonio, Venditore di canzonette in Il Trittico, Der Pfeifer des Grafen in Mathis der Maler, Gérard in Le comte Ory, Erster Gefangener in Fidelio, Uldino in Attila, Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola, Tito in La clemenza di Tito, Scitalce in Vinci’s Semiramide, Gastone in La Traviata, and Barbarigo in I due Foscari opposite Plácido Domingo. In concert at the Theater an der Wien, he appeared as Giove in Le nozze di Teti e di Peleo, a rarely performed cantata by Rossini, opposite Lawrence Brownlee, as well as Bach’s Mass in B minor at the Hofburgkapelle.

Mr. Owens debuted in the US as Don Ramiro in with Opera Saratoga and with Greensboro Opera. He debuted at Theater Magdeburg as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte and Camille de Rosillion in Die lustige Witwe. At the Bayerische Staatsoper as part of the Opernstudio, Mr. Owens appeared as Wilhelm in Les contes d’Hoffmann, Sigurd in Sigurd der Drachentöter, and Mücke/Hahn/Specht in Das schlaue Füchslein. He has covered Ferrando in Così fan tutte at the Salzburger Festspiele; Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor and Pluto in Orpheus in the Underworld at Central City Opera. He has also appeared as Borsa in Rigoletto at Virginia Opera.

Concert and symphonic engagements of past seasons include the tenor soloist in The Genius of Mozart at the National Concert Hall, Dublin with the RTÉ Symphony Orchestra, Schumann’s Szenen aus Goethes Faust with the Cleveland Orchestra, Lukas in Haydn’s Die Jahreszeiten, and First Japanese Envoy in Le Rossignol at the Salzburg Festival, as well as appearances in a Rossini gala concert at the Munich Opera Festival. He made his New York City recital debut with the New York Festival of Song in a program entitled Spanish Gold: Songs of the Iberian Peninsula at Merkin Hall.

Mr. Owens has had the opportunity to collaborate with some of the world’s most prestigious conductors and directors including James Conlon, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Bertrand de Billy, Franz Welser-Möst, Carlo Montanaro, Sian Edwards, Moshé Leiser, Patrice Caurier, Peter Konwitschny, Richard Jones, Keith Warner, Herbert Föttinger David Bösch, and Riccardo Frizza.

Mr. Owens is an award recipient from the Marilyn Horne Foundation, the Mario Lanza Institute, George London Foundation, Gerda Lissner Foundation, and the Francisco Viñas Competition. He is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Maryland Opera Studio. Other programs include the Salzburg Festival Young Singers Project, Central City Opera Bonfils-Stanton Music Academy of the West Voice Program. He currently resides in Chicago and studies with Jack Li Vigni.