Jennifer Owen

Australian Hometown(s): Canberra & Hobart
Education: Canberra Institute of the Arts, University of North Texas

PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
Jenny has been playing the violin for a really long time. As a child, growing up in Canberra, she played every week with ensembles in the Canberra Youth Orchestra Society, culminating in two prizewinning European tours with the Canberra Youth Orchestra in 1985 and 1990. She performed for two seasons as a member of the Australian Youth Orchestra in 1987 and 1988, and she was a regular busker, playing in chamber ensembles of anything from 2 to 15 players, and quickly learnt which music was more likely to draw and retain a crowd.

She studied as a violin performance major at the Canberra Institute of the Arts, and the University of North Texas, in the US, working with Vincent Edwards, Charmian Gadd, Barbara Gilby, Robert Davidovici and Igor Borodin.  She also completed a Graduate Diploma at the Hartt Schol in Hartford Connecticut, as a member of the Canberra String Quartet, working with the Emerson Quartet, and Mitchell Stern.

Her professional orchestral experience has ranged from casual violinist with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Sydney Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras and the Dallas Bach Society, and as a member of the Richardson Symphony, USA, (Associate Concertmaster 1994-95), Tasmanian Symphony (Principal First Violin, Acting Associate Concertmaster 1996-99), Houston Symphony, USA (Principal Second Violin 1999-2015) and again with the Tasmanian Symphony (Principal First Violin 2015- present).

As a chamber musician Jenny played with the Canberra String Quartet at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music in Townsville in 1991 and 1992, the Quartet Program at Beaver Creek Colorado in 1993, and also appeared at Steamboat Springs “Strings in the Mountains”, Bravo! Colorado Festival in Vail, and the Park City International Music Festival. In 1994 they were the resident quartet at the Aspen Music Festival. In Houston Texas, Jenny appeared as a guest on faculty concerts at Rice University and the University of Houston from 1999-2015, and as a regular guest with the St Cecelia Chamber Music Series. Jenny performed with Virtuosi Tasmania when she first lived in Hobart in 1996-99, and again since returning to Hobart in 2015.  She was appointed Music Director of Virtuosi Tasmania in December 2017.

Last updated 2018