Geraint Bowen (musician)
{{Short description|British conductor and organist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2013}}
Geraint Bowen (born in London, 11 January 1963){{cite news |title=The Guardian, birthdays column|date=11 January 2019}} is a British conductor and organist. He is Organist and Director of Music at Hereford Cathedral.
Early life and education
Bowen is a son of the Welsh tenor Kenneth Bowen (1932–2018) and the brother of the arts administrator Meurig Bowen.{{cite AV media |last1=Mohr-Pietsch |first1=Sara |authorlink1=Sara Mohr-Pietsch |last2=Bowen |first2=Meurig |authorlink2=Meurig Bowen |date=19 April 2015 |title=The Choir - The Choral Interview |medium=Radio broadcast |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02slmlz |access-date=11 May 2019 |publisher=BBC}}
As a boy, Bowen was a chorister at St John-at-Hampstead Church in London, under the direction of Martindale Sidwell.{{cite web |title=Organists |url=https://www.herefordcathedral.org/organists |website=Hereford Cathedral |date=12 September 2016 |accessdate=11 May 2019}} He graduated from Jesus College, Cambridge, where he was organ scholar from 1982 to 1985 and from where he started his conducting career and recorded an LP of early music with the Choir of Jesus College.{{cite web |title=Aeternae laudis lilium [sound recording]. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/31969752?selectedversion=NBD44273343 |website=Trove |publisher=National Library of Australia |accessdate=12 May 2019}}
Career
In 1986 Bowen was appointed assistant organist at St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. While in Dublin he took the external MusB degree at Trinity College.
In 1989 Bowen was appointed Assistant Organist at Hereford Cathedral.
File:St David's Cathedral Organ (34723079934).jpg
In 1995 Bowen was appointed organist and Master of the Choristers at St Davids Cathedral in Wales, and artistic director of the St Davids Cathedral Festival. While at St Davids, he oversaw the re-building of the cathedral's Father Willis organ by Harrison & Harrison, a major project which was completed in 2000.
Bowen was appointed Organist and Director of Music of Hereford Cathedral in 2001.{{cite news|url=http://www.birminghampost.net/life-leisure-birmingham-guide/birmingham-culture/music-in-birmingham/2012/07/27/review-haydn-s-creation-at-hereford-cathedral-65233-31480304/|title=Review: Haydn's 'Creation' at Hereford Cathedral|last=Morley|first=Christopher|date=27 July 2012|work=Birmingham Post|accessdate=4 August 2012|archive-date=30 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120730163115/http://www.birminghampost.net/life-leisure-birmingham-guide/birmingham-culture/music-in-birmingham/2012/07/27/review-haydn-s-creation-at-hereford-cathedral-65233-31480304/|url-status=dead}} He is also conductor of the Hereford Choral Society and artistic director of the Hereford Three Choirs Festival.
With the choirs of St Davids Cathedral and Hereford Cathedral he has toured the US and Australia; he has also directed choral workshops and courses in the US, including three for the Royal School of Church Music. With the Hereford choir, he recorded a CD of Anthems, Motets & Services by William Byrd and directed what was probably the cathedral's first performance of John Browne's Stabat mater.
Discography
- Aeternae Laudis Lilium (Abbey, 1985) − conducting the Choir of Jesus College, Cambridge
- Psalms of David Vol. 1 Hear My Prayer O Lord (Priory, 1989) − organist accompanying the Choir of Hereford Cathedral
- Howells From Hereford (Regent, 2009) - conducting the Choir of Hereford Cathedral
- William Byrd: Anthems, Motets & Services (Griffin, 2010) - conducting the Choir of Hereford Cathedral
- Christmas From Hereford (Regent, 2012) - conducting the Choir of Hereford Cathedral
- Easter Day at Hereford (Regent, 2016) - conducting the Choir of Hereford Cathedral
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.herefordcathedral.org/ Hereford Cathedral]
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{{s-bef|before=Kerry Beaumont}}
{{s-ttl|title=Organist and Master of the Choristers, St Davids Cathedral
|years=1995-2001}}
{{s-aft|after=Timothy Noon}}
{{s-bef|before=Roy Massey}}
{{s-ttl|title=Organist and Master of the Choristers of Hereford Cathedral
|years=2001-}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowen, Geraint}}
Category:British male conductors (music)
Category:British classical organists
Category:Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge
Category:People educated at William Ellis School
Category:British cathedral organists
Category:21st-century British conductors (music)
Category:21st-century British organists