Tom Owen

Tom Owen was born in Sussex, England, and studied in London and Hanover. He has given oboe masterclasses and recitals at the Central Conservatory Beijing, China Conservatory, Beijing, Shanghai Conservatory, the NRW Orchesterzentrum, the Royal Northern College of Music, the Royal Academy of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Ljubljana and the conservatories in Cologne, Stuttgart, Detmold, Hanover, Katowice, Ljubljana, Zagreb and Trossingen. He also gives masterclasses in Atri, Italy, as part of the “Duchi d'Aquaviva” festival From 2017-2019 Tom was a member of the faculty for wind chamber music at the Folkwang University Essen and regularly conducts the section wind rehearsals for various orchestras, including the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and the Orchestra Academy of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, whose wind rehearsals he has supervised since 2024. In addition, he has taught an oboe class at the Maastricht Conservatory since 2022 and is a jury member of the International Double Reed Society Competition 2024.
He has played with many of Europe's leading orchestras, including the NDR, WDR, SWR, as well as both Berlin Radio Orchestras, the Camerata Salzburg, the Gewandhaus, the Philharmonia London, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, as well as in opera houses in Munich, Dresden, Frankfurt and Hamburg.

Tom has worked as a soloist with many orchestras, including performances and recordings of Strauss and Mozart concertos with the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne under the conductors François-Xavier Roth and Markus Stenz. He has also played recitals at the Royal Festival Hall and Wigmore Hall in London. As a passionate chamber musician, Tom is also co-founder and deputy chairman of the Cologne chamber music association “KammerMusikKöln” and has supported two chamber music series in Cologne and Bonn. Over 50 chamber music works from these live concerts can be heard on YouTube. Tom has performed with the German Linos Ensemble and recorded with the Calmus Ensemble. With his own ensemble, the Kölner Kammersolisten, he released the first Gerald Finzi chamber music album under the label “MDG”. He has performed at festivals around the world and was appointed Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM) in 2015. Tom Owen has been principal oboist of the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne since 2006.