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(composers website: http://www.owenleech.com/)
British composer Owen Leech is based in London. Following studies with Robert Saxton and Raymond Warren at the University of Bristol (from which he holds a PhD in composition), and with Kurt Schwertsik at Dartington, he received a Polish government scholarship to work for two years with Włodzimierz Kotoński at the Chopin Academy in Warsaw. His music has been widely performed in the United Kingdom, Europe, North America and Asia by such distinguished performers as the Schubert Ensemble, Elgar Howarth, the Orchestra of Opera North, Yehuda Hanani and Jamie Walton. His works have also been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Australia’s ABC Radio National, and WPRB Radio Princeton.
Recent commissions have resulted in something of a focus on piano and string chamber music, including a very productive association with the Schubert Ensemble, for whom he has written a number of works, including a widely acclaimed piano quartet which was performed at the 2002 Cheltenham International Music Festival, at London's South Bank Centre and on tour in Canada and the States. 'Into the ring of dancing shadows' for piano quintet, was commissioned for the 2005 Newbury Spring Festival. 'Schulz’s Hourglass', for cello and piano, was premiered at Wigmore Hall by Jamie Walton and Daniel Grimwood, closely followed by the first performance, in the USA, of 'The wind in the ash' for piano quartet, commissioned by Israeli-American cellist Yehuda Hanani for his New England chamber series, Close Encounters with Music.
In 2007 ‘Into the ring’ received its first American performances in Los Angeles and Oregon – followed by the London premiere at the South Bank Centre in February 2008. A recent orchestral piece 'Canzona' was premiered at the Barbican in May 2009 and other chamber and orchestral works have recently been performed in Heidelberg and Madrid. In October 2011, 'After silence' for string quintet received its first performance at Miami's Wertheim Performing Arts Center, given by the Amernet Quartet with cellist Ross Harbaugh.
Also a busy conductor, Owen Leech was formerly musical director of the Avon Sinfonia in Bristol and is currently conductor of the long-established Tudor Orchestra in north London. In 2007 he initiated a series of concerts with a new orchestra, the Helios Chamber Orchestra, particularly reflecting his commitment to exploring new and neglected repertoire. He has also worked with the Oxford Sinfonia, the Dartington Festival Orchestra and the Cordoba-based Orquesta Sinfonica 'Volga-art'.
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