CHRISTOPHER BOWEN
Sydney based composer/conductor Christopher Bowen OAM, is one of Australia's most prolific composers and versatile musicians. As an orchestral/choral/opera conductor, he has an enormous repertoire, embracing all genres of music. He is also known for his skills as an expert arranger, pianist, vocal coach and clinician, and is proficient in languages.
Over the years, his striking and thought provoking compositions combined with innovative concert programming have introduced both audiences and performers to a unique and inspirational world of music.
Christopher Bowen was born in Melbourne and studied music at Melboune University and the Konservatorium der Stadt Wien, where he studied conducting, piano and korrepetition. He has worked with many organisations including the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Opera Australia, the Victorian State Opera and has been a staff member of the Vienna and Sydney Conservatoriums.
His conducting repertoire embraces the major orchestral, operatic/musical and choral works from the 16th century to contemporary music. Known for his imaginative and innovative concert programs, he has introduced audiences to many unjustly neglected works such as Mozart's Thamos König in Ägypten Mendelssohn's Die Erste Walpurgisnacht and extraordinary oratorio Paulus. He has conducted the Australian premieres of Beethoven's Kantate auf den Tod Kaiser Josephs II, Saint-Saëns' Le Déluge , Mass Opus 4 , Oratorio de Noel and Requiem, Bruckner's Requiem in D minor, von Suppe's Requiem (Missa pro defunctis), Heinichen's Missa No.9 in D, D’Astorga’s Stabat Mater, and more recently Nicolai's Te deum and Josef Rheinberger’s Der Stern von Bethlehem. In recent years he has conducted the Magnificat and Stabat Mater and stunning Concerti Grossi by Francesco Durante In 2024 he directed the Australian premiere of Hasse’s Missa Ultima and in 2025 will be conducting the first Australian performances of the unjustly neglected composer, Franz Lachner’s Requiem in F minor and his orchestration of Schubert’s Kantate Mirjams Siegesgesang.
The works of composers such as Cherubini, C.P.E. Bach and the great bohemian composer Jan Dismas Zelenka have also been featured in concerts. In May 2019 , he conducted the first performance in Australia of Francois-Joseph Gossec’s Messe des morts. His repertoire also includes works for the theatre such as West Side Story. Guys and Dolls, Cabaret, les Miserables, Irma la Douce, Phantom of the Opera, Cats to name a few. Operas include Die Zauberflöte, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Dido and Aeneas, La Traviata, Hänsel und Gretel, Land des Lächelns, und Die Lustige Witwe.
His considerable body of composition comprises many orchestral and choral works, instrumental and chamber music. He has also written two works, Nosferatu and Casablanca for the stage. His compositions and arrangements have received critical and public acclaim and have been broadcast on the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation),the ORF (Austrian Radio), Fine Music 102.5 and 3MBS Fine Music and performed by orchestras such as the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Australian National Orchestra.