Matthew Owens

Serving as director of music at Belfast Cathedral, Matthew Owens established the Ulster Consort and maintains an extensive catalogue of recordings in both conducting and organ performance roles. Born in Manchester, England, during 1971, he studied at Chetham's School of Music before taking up an organ scholarship at Queen's College, Oxford. Further training followed at the Royal Northern College of Music, where he earned a Professional Performance Diploma with distinction along with the Bach Prize, and at the University of Manchester, from which he obtained a master's degree. His principal teachers on the organ were Gordon Stewart, Margaret Phillips, David Sanger, and Jacques van Oortmerssen. In 1997 he assumed leadership of the London-based Exon Singers chamber choir, appearing with the ensemble in BBC broadcasts and at the Exon Singers Festival. Guest engagements have included the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, the BT Scottish Ensemble, and the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra. Earlier positions encompassed sub-organist duties at Manchester Cathedral, followed by service from 1999 to 2004 as organist and master of music at St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh, where his first recording—an album of works by Langlais and Vierne on the Herald label—appeared in 2001, and then organist and master of the choristers at Wells Cathedral, a post he held into the late 2010s. Organ recitals have taken him throughout the U.K., Ireland, France, and Switzerland. While at Wells he produced numerous discs with the Wells Cathedral Choir and as solo organist, initially for Delphian and later for Hyperion, before turning to Resonus Classics in 2016. Contemporary repertoire featured prominently in his programming there, resulting in releases devoted to music by Judith Bingham, Bob Chilcott, and John Tavener, including the Missa Wellensis. Among his initiatives were the Cathedral Commissions project and the new music wells festival. In 2011 an international jury convened by Gramophone magazine ranked the Wells Cathedral Choir first among choirs that include children and sixth among all choirs worldwide. Owens joined the Belfast Cathedral Choir in 2019 and, in the same city, formed the Ulster Consort as a compact professional vocal ensemble. His initial Belfast recording, the 2021 solo organ album Christmas Bells: Organ Music from Belfast Cathedral on Resonus Classics, was followed by the conductor-led A Belfast Christmas on the same label.