oboe
Meg Owens owns eight oboes of various shapes and sizes and enjoys playing all of them. She performs with many Washington, DC area orchestras and local chamber music series. In demand as a performer on historical oboes, Dr. Owens appears regularly with some of North America’s major Baroque orchestras, including Tafelmusik, American Bach Soloists, Opera Lafayette, Rebel, Tempesta di Mare, National Cathedral Baroque Orchestra, Mercury Baroque, Modern Musick, and the Magnolia and Amherst Baroque Festivals. She has collaborated in chamber music recitals with Harmonious Blacksmith, Chatham Baroque, and the Berkshire Bach Society. She has recorded for the Naxos, Koch International Classics, and Eclectra labels. Her scholarly pursuits center around the oboe band tradition at the courts and chateaux of Louis XIV, leading to recreations of, and lectures about, the music of the Philidor family of wind players.
At the other end of the performance practice spectrum, Dr. Owens’s love of modern music has led to collaborations with many composers in conjunction with premieres; an extension of this is her work with the contemporary music ensemble at George Mason University, fostering relationships between student and faculty composers and performers. Hailing from Wilmington, North Carolina, Dr. Owens is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the Manhattan School of Music, and earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the City University of New York. Her major teachers include Ronald Roseman, Joseph Robinson, and James Prodan. She teaches at George Mason University, American University, and Episcopal High School.