Mark Bowden (born 1979, Wales) is a Welsh composer of classical music.
Biography
Bowden studied composition with Richard Steinitz at the University of Huddersfield before completing a master's degree at the Royal College of Music where he studied with Julian Anderson. He has received commissions from the London Sinfonietta, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Ulster Orchestra, and Welsh National Opera amongst others and his music has been broadcast by BBC Radio 3. With Anna Meredith and Emily Hall he created the Camberwell Composers' Collective.
Bowden has received awards and prizes for his music including the Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize, a British Composer Award, and an Ivor Novello Awards nomination for his saxophone concerto Sapiens.
Bowden was the first composer-in-residence at Handel House Museum and, with fellow composers in the Camberwell Composers' Collective, was New Music Associate at Kettle's Yard in Cambridge from 2008-2010. He was the 2011–2012 Music Fellow at Rambert Dance Company.
Bowden was Resident Composer at BBC National Orchestra of Wales from 2011 to 2015 and Director of Composition at Royal Holloway, University of London from 2007-2022. In 2017 the University of London awarded Bowden the title of Professor of Composition and in 2022 he was appointed Professor of Music at the Royal College of Music.
Selected works
Voices on the Air (2021) for chamber ensemble
Outside (2020) for orchestra
Sapiens (2018) for solo saxophone & ensemble
Three Interludes (2018) for orchestra
Five Memos (2015) for violin & piano
We Have Found a Better Land (2015) for chorus
Airs No Oceans Keep (2015) for piano trio
A Violence of Gifts (2014) for soprano, baritone, chorus & orchestra
Channel Rose (2014) for soprano saxophone & vibraphone
Beldam (2014) for solo percussion
Heartland (2012) for solo percussion & orchestra
Parable (2012) for solo saxophone
Lyra (2011) for solo cello & orchestra
Lines Written a Few Miles Below (2011) for solo violin & track
The Soul Candle (2008) for baritone and piano
Sudden Light (2004) for orchestra
Recordings
Taliesin’s Songbook
Label: Tŷ Cerdd
Performers: Gareth Brynmor John and Andrew Matthews-Owen
Work: The Soul Candle
Flux
Label: NMC
Performers: Fidelio Trio
Work: Airs No Oceans Keep
Sudden Light
Label: NMC
Performers: Oliver Coates (cello), Julian Warburton (percussion), Hyeyoon Park (violin), Huw Watkins (piano), BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Grant Llewellyn (conductor) Works: Lyra, Heartland, Five Memos, Sudden Light