MARTIN OWEN horn
All portrait photos by Davide Cerati
Owen's playing is a luxury for the ear
THE SUNDAY TIMES, LONDON Martin Owen brings a Dennis Brain-like poetry to his playingTHE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, LONDON
Martin Owen's horn playing is rich and expressive in the Serenade [BRITTEN], and he manages the haunting, swooping octaves with apparent ease.BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
Interstellar Call, the solo-horn movement
[from Messiaen's Des Canyons Aux Etoiles] was made into a masterly tour de force by Owen. Prom 13: BBCSO/OramoTHE GUARDIAN
Regarded as one of Europe’s leading horn players, Martin Owen appears as a soloist and chamber musician all around the world. He currently holds the position of principal horn at the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, and Haffner Wind Ensemble, having served as principal horn of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and, on a temporary contract, as solo horn of the Berliner Philharmoniker.
He has performed concertante works by Britten, Elliott Carter, Oliver Knussen, Messiaen, Mozart, Thea Musgrave, Schumann, Richard Strauss, and Weber with the BBC Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallé, Britten Sinfonia, Aalborg Symfoniorkester, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg, Ensemble Modern, Orquesta Nacional de España, George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, Bucharest, and New World Symphony, under conductors such as Jiří Bělohlávek, Martyn Brabbins, Edward Gardner, Oliver Knussen, Sir Roger Norrington, Sakari Oramo, David Robertson, Dalia Stasevska, Michael Tilson Thomas, and John Wilson. He has recorded concertos for many labels including Linn, RPO, Dutton, BBC, Signum Classics and Bridge records, and on Chandos records, following three critically acclaimed releases: Strauss, Schumann and Weber with the BBC Philharmonic (2023), trios by Brahms, Ligeti and Mozart (2024), and Ruth Gipps’s Horn Concerto also with the BBC Philharmonic (2025), Martin will record the Mozart Horn Concertos with Manchester Camerata/Gábor Takács-Nagy.
Martin Owen is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, where he is Alfred Brain Professor of Horn, and is French horn tutor to the European Union Youth Orchestra. He has appeared on hundreds of film and television soundtracks, among them the Star Wars, Harry Potter, James Bond, and Pirates of the Caribbean franchises, as well as a plethora of Marvel movies! He lives in the Surrey Hills with his wife, Anna, a violinist.
RICHARD STRAUSS
Concerto No.1, Op.11 in E-Flat Major
Concerto No.2 in E-Flat Major
CARL MARIA VON WEBER
Concertino, Op.45 In E Minor
ROBERT SCHUMANN
Concertstück, Op.86 in F Major for Four Horns and Large Orchestra
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra / John Wilson
…this is a recording of distinction.
Recording of the Month - Recommended (Oct '23)
Peter J Rabinowitz Gramophone magazine
…there’s no greater tonic that the Schumann, and no better sonorities could be imagined; the recording captures them beautifully … It’s a sheer joy, with only superficial melancholy adding more colours. I’ll be playing that over and over again.
David Nice BBC Music magazine