Siobhán Owen (born 4 October 1993) is a

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

and

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

ist from

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. Owen regularly performs at festivals, concerts and events around Australia and further abroad. She favours classical and Celtic/folk songs, but also sings pop and jazz on occasion.

Early life

Owen was born on 4 October 1993 in

North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...

and lived in the

Anglesey Anglesey ( ; ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms the bulk of the Principal areas of Wales, county known as the Isle of Anglesey, which also includes Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island () and some islets and Skerry, sker ...

village of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (or

Llanfairpwllgwyngyll Llanfairpwllgwyngyll or Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll (), often shortened to Llanfairpwll and sometimes to Llanfair PG, is a village and community on the Isle of Anglesey, Wales. It is located on the Menai Strait, next to the Britannia Bridge. At the ...

for short) before moving to Australia with her family in November 1995. At a young age, Owen was encouraged to join the Adelaide Girls Choir (now Young Adelaide Voices) and the St Aloysius College) school choir, where she became a regular soloist. Owen began her classical voice training at age nine, with singing teachers Naomi Hede and Norma Knight. She entered her first

Eisteddfod In Welsh culture, an ''eisteddfod'' is an institution and festival with several ranked competitions, including in poetry and music. The term ''eisteddfod'', which is formed from the Welsh morphemes: , meaning 'sit', and , meaning 'be', means, a ...

around this time winning an Honourable Mention in the nine to thirteen age group. It wasn't long before Owen started winning Eisteddfods, most notably the Classical Voice sections.

First performances

Owen's first solo performance on stage came just after her 10th birthday, in 2003, when she sang in a

Riverdance ''Riverdance'' is a theatrical show that consists mainly of traditional Irish music and dance. With a score composed by Bill Whelan, it originated as an interval act during the Eurovision Song Contest 1994, featuring Irish dancing champions J ...

Style show called "Shades of Green", organised by the Adelaide

Irish Dancing Irish dance refers to the traditional dance forms that originate in Ireland, including both solo and group dance forms, for Social dance, social, Competitive dance, competitive, and performative dance, performance purposes. Irish dance has evolv ...

Association, which toured South Australian theatres. When she was 12, Owen gave her first major solo performance, singing a traditional Irish song at the

Adelaide Festival Theatre Adelaide Festival Centre, Australia's first capital city multi-purpose arts centre and the home of South Australia's performing arts, was built in the early 1970s and designed by Hassell Architects. The Festival Theatre opened in June 1973 wit ...

to an audience of 2,500. The same year, Owen received a Music Scholarship from St Aloysius College and a Choral Scholarship from St. Francis Xavier's Cathedral Choir, where she remained a soloist and chorister for over three years. In August 2007, aged 13, Owen gave her first solo concert for Recitals Australia. She continues to perform for Recitals Australia every year.

Harp

In 2008, Owen received media attention when asked to sing at the

Adelaide Fringe Festival Adelaide Fringe, formerly Adelaide Fringe Festival, is Australia’s biggest arts festival and is the world's second-largest annual arts festival (after the Edinburgh Festival Fringe), held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Between ...

with French singer/harpist

Cécile Corbel Cécile Corbel (born 28 March 1980, in Pont-Croix, Finistère, France) is a French and Breton singer, harpist, and composer. She has released five albums of original music and worked for Studio Ghibli as a composer for its 2010 film, '' Arrietty ...

after they met on

Myspace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

. Owen was so inspired by Corbel's harp playing that she decided to start playing harp. She had harp lessons from renowned Adelaide singer/harpist Emma Horwood, and was soon accompanying herself with harp in Celtic and Folk Festivals, concerts and recitals. Owen commissioned South Australian harp maker and

luthier A luthier ( ; ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments. Etymology The word ' is originally French and comes from ''luth'', the French word for "lute". The term was originally used for makers of lutes, but it came to be ...

Tim Guster to build her a 36-string

Celtic harp The Celtic harp is a triangular frame harp traditional to the Celtic nations of northwest Europe. It is known as in Irish, in Scottish Gaelic, in Breton and in Welsh. In Ireland and Scotland, it was a wire-strung instrument requiring gr ...

with special carving. This harp has travelled with Owen all over Australia.

Festivals

Owen has performed at festivals around Australia and internationally, including the following:

Australia

Woodford Folk Festival The Woodford Folk Festival is an annual music and cultural festival held near the semi-rural town of Woodford, Queensland, Woodford, north of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, Queensland, Australia. It is one of the biggest annual cultural e ...

–

Woodford, Queensland Woodford is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the City of Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Woodford had a population of 4,022 people. The town is noted for the Woodford Folk Festival th ...

National Folk Festival (Australia) The National Folk Festival (NFF) is held every year at Easter in the Australian capital, Canberra. First held in Melbourne in 1967, from 1969 the NFF was held in various states in city and regional venues. Since 1992 the festival had been stag ...

–

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...

National Celtic Festival
–

Portarlington, Victoria Portarlington is a town located on the Bellarine Peninsula, 28 km from the city of Geelong, in the state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. It has a diverse population which includes a wide range of ethnic backgrounds, a high pro ...

Australian Celtic Festival
–

Glen Innes, New South Wales Glen Innes is a parish and town on the Northern Tablelands, in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the centre of the Glen Innes Severn Shire Council. The town is located at the intersection of the New England Highway and ...

Cygnet Folk Festival
–

Cygnet, Tasmania Cygnet (; ) is a town in the Huon Valley, south of Huonville, Tasmania. History The Indigenous people occupied a large territory in South East Tasmania, including Cygnet, Hobart and Bruny Island. Tasmanian leader & elder, Wooraddy, came from B ...

Tamar Valley Folk Festival
–

Tamar Valley, Tasmania The Tamar Valley is a valley in Tasmania, Australia (lutruwita). It runs north-west from the northern city of Launceston to the coast either side of the Tamar River, a distance of approximately 70 km. There are more than 20 vineyards lining ...

Celtica Festival
–

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...

, South Australia
Kapunda Celtic Festival
–

Kapunda, South Australia Kapunda is a town on the Light River near the Barossa Valley in South Australia. It was established after a discovery in 1842 of significant copper deposits. The population was 2,917 at the 2016 Australian census. The southern entrance to th ...

Fleurieu Folk Festival
–

Willunga, South Australia Willunga is a town located to the south of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of Onkaparinga (a Local government in Australia, local government area). It is 47 km by road from the Adelaide city centre and 12 km from the coast at Aldinga Bay. W ...

International

Festival Interceltique de Lorient __NOTOC__ The (French), Emvod Ar Gelted An Oriant (Breton) or Inter-Celtic Festival of Lorient in English, is an annual Celts (modern), Celtic festival, located in the city of Lorient, Brittany, France. It was founded in 1971 by . This annual ...

– Lorient, Brittany, France
Triskell Folk Festival
–

Trieste, Italy Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the regional decentralization entity of Trieste. Trieste is located at the head ...

Demat! Kansai Celtic Music Festival
–

Osaka, Japan is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third-most populous city in Japan, following the special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a populatio ...

Career

2009 – Owen won the Adelaide Eisteddfod Junior Vocal Championship. Also in 2009, she was voted the South Australia Folk Awards "Most Outstanding Emerging Artist". 2010 – Owen was one of ten finalists in the Australian National Young Folk Awards. Performances in 2010 included singing the National Anthem for the

Tour Down Under The Tour Down Under (currently branded as the Santos Tour Down Under for sponsorship reasons) is a cycling race in and around Adelaide, South Australia. It is traditionally the opening event of the UCI World Tour and UCI Women’s WorldTour ...

, performing at the

Australia Day Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet and raising of the Flag of Great Britain, Union Flag of Great Britain by Arthur Phillip at Sydney Cove, a ...

Awards in the grounds of

Government House, Adelaide Government House, located in Adelaide on the corner of North Terrace and King William Road, is the official residence of the governor of South Australia. History The original "Government Hut" was a thatched hut constructed by the seamen o ...

, presenting her own show Celestial Echoes at the

, and singing at Adelaide's

Carols by Candlelight Carols by Candlelight is an annual Australian Christmas tradition that was popularised in Melbourne in 1938. The tradition has since spread around the world. It involves people gathering, usually outdoors in a park, to sing carols by candlel ...

. On 7 May 2010, Owen was interviewed by

BBC Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, ...

for a feature on their website. 2011 – Owen won two Irish Music Awards – "Best New Irish Music Artist" and "Top Harpist". 2012 – March, Owen was soprano soloist in Ennio Morricone's debut Australian concert in Elder Park for the Adelaide Festival of Arts. 23 June, Owen sang the Welsh National Anthem (

Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau "" () is the unofficial national anthem of Wales. The title, taken from the first words of the song, means "The Old Land of My Fathers" in Welsh, usually rendered in English as simply "Land of My Fathers". The words were written by Evan Ja ...

) at the Australia vs Wales Rugby Test Match at Allianz Stadium, Sydney. Also in June, Owen released her fourth studio album ''Storybook Journey''. The album was named BBC Radio Wales "Album of the Week" in September, and in December was awarded 2012 Classical Crossover UK "Album of the Year". 2013 – Owen made her UK debut in January, performing concerts in Wales, London and Devon. In March, Owen made her US debut, headlining the

Los Angeles St. David's Day Festival The Los Angeles St. David's Day Festival was an annual art festival, arts and cultural festival held in Los Angeles, California. It typically took place during the first weekend of March, and attracted Welsh people, Welsh ex-pats and Welsh desce ...

. She presented her own Adelaide Fringe Festival shows "Storybook Journey" at Ayers House, Adelaide. 2014 – March, Owen was the voice of Yseult in Alan Simon's new Celtic/rock opera ''Tristan & Yseult''. The premiere show was at Zenith Nantes, France. Simon chose Owen for the part after finding her on YouTube. 2015 – February, Owen was guest lead singer in the Russian premiere of Alan Simon's ''Tristan & Yseult''. She appeared in the first 4 performances at Novosibirsk Theatre of Comeday & Music,

Novosibirsk Novosibirsk is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and the Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the 2021 Russian census, 2021 census, it had a population of 1,633,595, making it the most populous city in Siber ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

. 2017 – February, French Magazine ''Le Figaro Culture'' ranked Owen as one of the top ambassadors of the six Celtic Nations. 2017 - May, Owen was awarded the ''Best Female Artist'' and her ''Entwined'' album won the ''Best Produced Album'' in the ''Australian Celtic Music Awards''

Discography

''Purely Celtic'' (released May 2008) #

(Land of My Fathers – Welsh) # Suo Gân (Lullaby – Welsh) #

My Lagan Love "My Lagan Love" (Roud 1418) is a song to a traditional Irish air, first collected in 1903 in northern County Donegal. The English lyrics have been credited to Joseph Campbell (1879–1944), also known as Seosamh MacCathmhaoil and Joseph McCahill ...

(Ireland) # A Lullaby (Ireland) #

The Skye Boat Song "The Skye Boat Song" (Roud 3772) is a late 19th-century Scottish song adaptation of a Gaelic song composed c.1782 by William Ross, entitled ''Cuachag nan Craobh'' ("Cuckoo of the Tree"). In the original song, the composer laments to a cuckoo ...

(Scotland) # My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose (Scotland) #

Amazing Grace "Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn written in 1772 and published in 1779 by English Anglican clergyman and poet John Newton (1725–1807). It is possibly the most sung and most recorded hymn in the world, and especially popular in the Unit ...

(England) # Siúil A Rún (Walk My Love – Irish Gaelic) # She Moved Through the Fair (Ireland) # My Little Welsh Home (Wales) #

The Ash Grove ''The Ash Grove'' () is a traditional Welsh folk song whose melody has been set to numerous sets of lyrics. The best-known English lyrics were written by Thomas Oliphant in the 19th century. History The first published version of the tune was ...

(Wales) #

Danny Boy "Danny Boy" is a folk song with lyrics written by English lawyer Frederic Weatherly in 1910, and set to the traditional Irish melody of " Londonderry Air" in 1913. History In 1910, in Bath, Somerset, England, the English lawyer and lyricist ...

(Ireland) # Lilium (Lily – Latin) ''Celestial Echoes'' (released September 2009) # Dark Iniseoghan # In a Garden so Green #

Ar Hyd y Nos "Ar Hyd y Nos" () is a Welsh song sung to a tune that was first recorded in Edward Jones' ''Musical and Poetical Relics of the Welsh Bards'' (1784). The most commonly sung Welsh lyrics were written by John Ceiriog Hughes (1832–1887), and have ...

# Twilight Fancies # Nocturne #

Down by the Salley Gardens "Down by the Salley Gardens" ('' Irish: Gort na Saileán'') is a poem by William Butler Yeats published in '' The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems'' in 1889. History Yeats indicated in a note that it was "an attempt to reconstruct an old son ...

# Pie Jesu (Fauré) # Ye Banks and Braes of Bonny Doon # Lisa Lân # En Prière # An Eriskay Love Lilta #

Ave Maria (Schubert) "" ("", D. 839, Op. 52, No. 6, 1825), in English: "Ellen's Third Song", was composed by Franz Schubert in 1825 as part of his Op. 52, a setting of seven songs from Walter Scott's 1810 popular narrative poem '' The Lady of the Lake'', loosely tr ...

# She Moved Through the Fair # Der Nussbaum (

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

, ''Myrthen'', Op. 25, No. 3)) # A Fairy's Love Song # We'll Keep a Welcome ''Lilium'' (released December 2010) # My Little Welsh Home # Del Cabello Más Sutil #

Dafydd y Garreg Wen Dafydd is a Welsh masculine given name, related to David (name), David, and more rarely a surname. People so named include: Given name Medieval era :''Ordered chronologically'' * Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd (1203), Prince of Gwynedd * Dafydd ap Gruffyd ...

I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls "I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls", or "The Gipsy Girl's Dream", is a popular aria from ''The Bohemian Girl'', an 1843 opera by Michael William Balfe, with lyrics by Alfred Bunn. It is sung in the opera by the character Arline, who is in love with ...

# Cyfri'r Geifr # If I Were a Blackbird # O mio babbino caro #

Gartan Mother's Lullaby "Gartan Mother's Lullaby" is an old Irish song and poem written by Herbert Hughes and Seosamh Mac Cathmhaoil, first published in ''Songs of Uladh lster' in 1904. Hughes collected the traditional melody in Donegal the previous year and Campbel ...

# Mondnacht (Robert Schumann) # Lilium #

You'll Never Walk Alone "You'll Never Walk Alone" is a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical '' Carousel''. In the second act of the musical, Nettie Fowler, the cousin of the protagonist Julie Jordan, sings "You'll Never Walk Alone" to comfort and e ...

Greensleeves "Greensleeves" is a traditional English folk song. A broadside ballad by the name "A Newe Northen Dittye of ye Ladye Greene Sleves" was registered by Richard Jones at the London Stationers' Company in September 1580,Frank Kidson, ''English F ...

Isle of Innisfree The "Isle of Innisfree" is a song composed by Dick Farrelly (Irish songwriter, policeman and poet, born Richard Farrelly), who wrote both the music and lyrics. Farrelly got the inspiration for "Isle of Innisfree", the song for which he is best r ...

May It Be "May It Be" is a song by the Irish recording artist Enya. She and Roma Ryan respectively composed and wrote lyrics to the song, for Peter Jackson's 2001 film ''The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring''. The song entered the Top100 Singl ...

It's Only a Paper Moon "It's Only a Paper Moon" is a popular music, popular song published in 1933 with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by Yip Harburg and Billy Rose. Background It was originally titled "If You Believed in Me", but later went by the more popular ti ...

''Storybook Journey'' (released June 2012) # Cariad # Scarborough Fair # The Rose # A Ei Di'r Deryn Du #

Walking in the Air "Walking in the Air" is a song written by Howard Blake for the 1982 animated film ''The Snowman'' based on Raymond Briggs's 1978 children's book of the same name. The song forms the centrepiece of ''The Snowman'', which has become a seasonal fa ...

# Fields of St Etienne # Llangollen Market # Siúil a Rún # Bring Him Home #

Black Is the Colour "Black Is the Color (of My True Love's Hair)" (Roud 3103) is a traditional ballad folk song known in the US as associated with colonial and later music in the Appalachian Mountains. It is believed to have originated in Ireland / Scotland, as it ...

Nearer, My God, to Thee "Nearer, My God, to Thee" is a 19th-century Christian hymn by Sarah Flower Adams, which retells the story of Jacob's dream. Genesis 28:11–12 can be translated as follows: "So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night because t ...

# Dream a Dream #

Caledonia Caledonia (; ) was the Latin name used by the Roman Empire to refer to the forested region in the central and western Scottish Highlands, particularly stretching through parts of what are now Lochaber, Badenoch, Strathspey, and possibly as ...

Calon Lân is a Welsh hymn, the words of which were written in the 1890s by Daniel James (Gwyrosydd) and sung to a tune by John Hughes (1872–1914), John Hughes. The song was originally written as a hymn, but has become firmly established as a rugby anth ...

# Prayer # Sora Wo Aruku (

in Japanese) # Storybook Journey ''Entwined'' (released 25 April 2016) # First Day of the World # An Hini a Garan # In a Blue Sky # Ardaigh Cuan # Dance of the Leaves # Suo Gân # Entwined #

The Parting Glass "The Parting Glass" (Roud Folk Song Index, Roud 3004) is a Scottish folk music, Scottish folk music, traditional song, often sung at the end of a gathering of friends. It has also long been sung in Ireland, where it remains popular; this has st ...

# Drums of Lochnager # Dacw 'Nghariad # Castlebar # Ailein duinn # Southern Heart # The Snow Goose Song #

Auld Lang Syne "Auld Lang Syne" () is a Scottish song. In the English-speaking world, it is traditionally sung to bid farewell to the old year at the stroke of midnight on Hogmanay/New Year's Eve. It is also often heard at funerals, graduations, and as a far ...

Illustration

Siobhan Owen has also been involved with several book projects and gallery exhibitions showing her artwork. Books include Welsh titles ''The Children's Voice: A Definitive Collection of Welsh Nursery Rhymes'', ''The Age of Saints'', and ''Welsh in the Old West'', to name a few.

References

External links

Official Siobhan Owen webpage

Youtube channel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Owen, Siobhan 1993 births Living people Australian sopranos Australian classical harpists Welsh folk harpists Australian folk singers Australian women folk singers Opera crossover singers 21st-century Welsh women singers People from Anglesey 21st-century Australian women singers Welsh emigrants to Australia Australian women harpists