Biography
A native of Atlanta, GA, pianist Caroline Owen frequently performs as a soloist and collaborator. She has played in venues across the U.S. and in Europe, including the DiMenna Center for Classical Music (New York) and the Wiener Saal and Solitär at the Mozarteum (Salzburg).
Owen was the winner of the Florida MTNA Young Artist Competition (2019) and a semifinalist in the 14th International Mozart Competition Salzburg (2020) and International Keyboard Odyssiad (2016). She also won the Pro-Mozart Society of Atlanta Competition (2018), from which she received a scholarship to study at the Salzburg Mozarteum with Dominique Merlet and Christopher Hinterhuber. Owen has appeared as soloist with the Furman University Symphony Orchestra and, more recently, the Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra for the 2021 premiere of composer Donald Yu's Piano Concerto No. 1. She is returning to play with OCCO in Summer 2023 for the premiere of a new work by composer Jamie Wehr. Owen has also given performances at the American Liszt Society Conference and the Russian Consulate of Prague. Her 2023 schedule includes solo and collaborative performances across the U.S., Canada, and the Czech Republic.
Owen has participated in and performed at festivals including PianoFest in the Hamptons, Atlantic Music Festival’s Summer Piano Institute, the PianoTexas Young Artists Program, and the Prague Piano Festival. She has worked with distinguished artists and teachers such as Marvin Blickenstaff, Lucille Chung, Boris Giltburg, Richard Goode, Douglas Humpherys, Martin Katz, Vincent Larderet, Julian Martin, Pascal Rogé, Sandra Shen, and Dina Yoffe in masterclass settings and had additional studies with Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Philippe Bianconi, Joel Hastings, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Jerome Lowenthal, Louis Nagel, Ursula Oppens, Elizabeth Pridonoff, Ann Schein, Paul Schenly, and Boris Slutsky, among others.
With a background in dance, Owen has a deep interest in interdisciplinary projects. She particularly enjoys combining her passions for music and dance in her ongoing collaborations with Houston-based composer Badie Khaleghian. In 2019, Owen and Khaleghian produced a multimedia work for solo piano and dance entitled Life Suite. Their most recent work, Electric Sky Blue (2022), has been performed in festivals across the U.S. and abroad, including the Seoul International Computer Music Festival, SEAMUS (Society of Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States), Atemporánea Festival (Argentina), Ammerman Center for Arts & Technology Biennial Symposium, and TurnUp Multimedia Festival.
Passionate about chamber music, Owen co-founded her Athena Trio in 2018 alongside violist Claudia Malchow and clarinetist Kelly Riordan. Since Fall 2022, she has been performing on tour as a member of the Astralis Chamber Ensemble, a dynamic ensemble that aims not only to support the development of the arts through new compositions but also to reach communities of all backgrounds through music.
In Spring 2022, Owen earned her Doctorate of Music degree in piano performance from Florida State University, where she studied with David Kalhous and was also an instructor of Group Piano. Her other primary teachers have included Liza Stepanova, Derek Parsons, and Jody Smith Parrish. Owen is currently based in Atlanta, where she serves as an Artist Affiliate at Emory University. Outside of making music, she enjoys gardening, hiking, traveling, and spending time with friends and family.