composers

Owen Leech

• When the Moon Rises

Owen Leech studied composition with Robert Saxton and Raymond Warren at the University of Bristol, which awarded him a Ph.D. in 2002. He has also studied with Kurt Schwertsik (composition) and Diego Masson (conducting) at the Dartington International Summer School and, on receipt of a Polish government scholarship, with W?odzimierz Koto?ski at the Chopin Academy in Warsaw. His music has been performed widely in the United Kingdom and also in North America, Holland, Spain, Poland and Japan by such distinguished performers as the Schubert Ensemble of London, the English Northern Philharmonia under Elgar Howarth, cellist Jamie Walton and the Composers' Ensemble.

Commissions over recent years have resulted in something of a focus on piano and string chamber music, including a particularly productive association with the Schubert Ensemble, for whom he has written a number of works, including a piano quartet, 'A deeper season', which they performed at the 2002 Cheltenham International Festival, London's South Bank and on tour in Canada. 'Into the ring of dancing shadows', a new piano quintet for the Ensemble, was premiered at the 2005 Newbury Spring Festival. In early 2005, 'Schulz's Hourglass', for cello and piano, received its first performance at Wigmore Hall, performed by Jamie Walton and Daniel Grimwood, closely followed by the premiere, in Massachusetts, of 'The wind in the ash' - a new work for piano quartet which was commissioned by Israeli-American cellist Yehuda Hanani for his New England chamber series, Close Encounters with Music. In January 2008, the Schubert Ensemble gave the first American performances of 'Into the ring' in Los Angeles and Neskowin, Oregon - followed in February by the London premiere, at the South Bank.

Owen Leech is also active as a conductor, particularly with his adventurous ensemble, the Helios Chamber Orchestra, and the north London-based Tudor Orchestra. In August 2007 he made his Spanish debut with the International Chamber Orchestra of Córdoba in a programme which included the premiere of the orchestral version of his 'The wind in the ash', at the 2nd International Villacarillo Festival.

www.owenleech.co.uk