Ruairi Bowen - Tenor
A finalist in the International Handel Singing Competition in 2020, Ruairi is much in demand as an interpreter of Baroque repertoire in the UK and abroad, recently making his debut at the Wigmore Hall and Leipzig Bachfest, performing Bach's Johannes-Passion 1725 with Solomon's Knot. He has collaborated regularly with Stephen Layton, performing Johannes-Passion (arias) with both Adelaide & Tasmania Symphony Orchestras as well as the annual Good Friday performance with Polyphony/Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at St John's Smith Square, and Bach’s Messe in h-Moll with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2018 he took part in a Bach Cantata Ring with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists, performing BWV61, 78 & 110 at The Royal Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, the Wiener Musikverein, the Barbican Centre and the Chapelle Royale, Versailles. Future engagements include and Handel's Messiah with The Hampstead Collective, a newly formed ensemble that emerged in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Equally at home with larger-scale symphonic works, he sang in the world premiere & recording of Stanford's Mass Via Victrix with the BBC National Orchestra & Chorus of Wales and Adrian Partington. Other engagements have included Mendelssohn's Elijah in Worcester Cathedral, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis with Ben Palmer/Covent Garden Sinfonia and Vaughan Williams’ A Cotswold Romance with the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra, and he will sing Verdi’s Messa da Requiem for the first time next year. On the operatic stage, he debuted Prologue/Quint in Britten’s Turn of the Screw at Barnes Music Festival and took on multiple roles in Purcell's The Indian Queen with Le Concert d’Astrée and Emanuelle Haïm at l'Opera de Lille in the autumn. In 2021, he returns to Barnes for the role of Satvayān in Holst's Sāvitri this Spring, and to Lille for the role of Sailor in Purcell's Dido & Aeneas.
As a graduate of King's College, Cambridge, Ruairi was invited to sing on Proud Songsters, an album of English Solo Song recorded with pianist Simon Lepper, feautring distinguished former members of the world-famous chapel choir. Growing up in the Welsh Marches, Ruairi has developed a keen interest in exploring the integrated relationship between poetry and nature through pastoral song. Recent highlights include a recital on Innocence & Experience with Anna Tilbrook, performing Tippett's Cantata Boyhood's End and Finzi's A Young Man's Exhortation for Finzi Friends at Ashmansworth. He also performed on themes of The Games & Battles of Love for Recitals at Raynham and The Grange Festival, featuring Monteverdi Songs of Court directed by Michael Chance.
During the live music hiatus in 2020, Ruairi was a Support Worker for the Children's Section of the British Refugee Council, and has volunteered as a coach for their Cricket Project since 2015. Where time allows, he returns to Herefordshire to play cricket for Brockhampton CC. He continues his studies with Nicky Spence & Caroline Dowdle.