Brewster Musicians Have International Roots, Local Focus

Richard Owen conducts while Kate Owen, to his right, plays the cello. On a glorious Saturday afternoon musicians Richard and Katarzyna Owen relax on the porch of their Brewster home, sipping coffee from graceful cups that make those to-go ones seem overdone. “This is for you,” Mr. Owen says as he hands me a copy of their orchestra’s CD, a live recording of Camerata New York at Merkin Concert Hall. (I listen to it later, it’s marvelous.) To some, classical music may seem daunting and a bit formal; but today it’s sunny outside so she has on sunglasses, and it’s warm so he’s wearing a polo shirt. Certainly there is nothing more approachable than this.

With a decade of successful seasons, it is this kind of accessibility to music that has been the mission and standard of Camerata New York, whether promoting talented musicians from all over the world or reaching a local audience.

When the couple founded the professional orchestra in 2000 in Vienna, Austria, it was called Camerata Internazionale. Mr. Owen is the conductor and Ms. Owen is the principal cellist and orchestra’s executive director. When they moved to America the name was adjusted to Camerata New York, but the high-caliber concerts remained their priority.

Their paths to becoming musicians are two different stories, yet there is something in their vivaciousness when discussing their musical backgrounds that is the same.

Mr. Owen grew up in New York City in a musical family—his father wrote nine operas, while also a federal judge, and his mother was an opera singer. As a boy he sang in operas and began competing as a pianist. He went on to attend Dartmouth College to study piano. “I decided somewhere along the way that music was what I pretty much wanted to do as a career,” he says.

After earning a masters degree at the Manhattan School of Music, he went with his mother to a summer music festival in Germany where he began conducting orchestras. “I met my dear wife there,” he says, gently patting her hand with a playful smile. “She was there with the Warsaw Conservatory and was engaged to play for the summer festival.” She smiles back.

“I have, maybe, a little bit simpler way of starting,” Ms. Owen begins. She grew up in a small town in Poland, and at 11 her parents heard there was a test for musical talent for a primary music school. She liked music, in fact Ms. Owen had taught herself to play guitar at the age of 9 and sang in a children’s chorus at a local church. The test determined she had good hands for cello.

“Actually, I wanted to learn to play the guitar, but they didn’t have a teacher so they took me to a classroom where there was a young cellist playing,” she recalls. “They asked me if I liked it, and I was 11 so I said ‘sure!’ It looked like a guitar, but sort of like a violin, a big version. That’s all I really knew of instruments at that time.”

She attended specialized music schools through high school and emerged with 10 years of music education in cello, piano, chorus, ear training, music history, harmony, and chamber music. She went on to earn her masters degree from the F. Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, Poland.

Having met in Germany at the festival, both went to Vienna to study at the University for Music and the Performing Arts—he for conducting, she for cello. They married in Vienna and co-founded Camerata New York.

With extensive international careers, they moved back to the States when Mr. Owen was offered a conducting job. Since then, he has conducted for numerous orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, and is now the music director of the Amore Opera in New York. She has an impressive resume of concerts as a soloist and as a freelance musician, and is also a devoted music teacher.

Ms. Owen gives music lessons in their home, offering education in various instruments, and also teaches voice lessons (she was a soprano soloist herself and coach of the Columbia University Glee Club). It is with her own education and experience as an active musician that allows her students to not only appreciate, but enjoy music.

This fall, Camerata New York will be celebrating their 10th anniversary season, and it is due to the Owens’s leadership that the accomplished orchestra has performed at theaters like Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall. With musicians mainly from the City, they do engage some from Westchester and Putnam County. And while funding is not always in abundance they have never compromised on their original mission to give emerging musicians the opportunity to make music on the highest level.

One of the most inspiring initiatives is the orchestra’s “Music for Everyone” program where free concerts are held at local venues. In the past they have included the Brewster Public Library and the Southeast Museum. Having lived in Brewster for almost seven years, it’s the Owens’a hope that with live performances the community can appreciate the richness of music—in an extremely intimate setting, no less. In fact, they will be performing on June 4 at the Katonah Village Library.

“We realize that not every person, adult or child, is super excited to come to a classical concert,” Mr. Owen says. “So, we wanted to make it super accessible and wanted to mix up the repertoire.”

Ms. Owen points out that the first half of their local concerts tend to be shorter pieces that are more recognizable to the audience. The second half delves into traditional classical works. Most importantly, they always make a point to provide their audiences with ample background and information on the music.

“We always want people to understand the music, and enjoy, and learn something from it,” she says. He quickly adds, “And hopefully take it one step further in their own life.”

See soloists of Camerata New York Orchestra in concert. Artists Richard and Katarzyna Owen will be performing at the Katonah Village Library on Fri. June 4 at 7pm. Admission is free.

Visit their website at cameratany.org.