{{Short description|British artistic director}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Meurig Bowen''' is a British arts administrator who works mainly in festival and orchestral programming. Since 2020 he has been Chief Executive and artistic director of the Britten Sinfonia.

He is the younger son of Welsh tenor Kenneth Bowen (1932–2018)<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bowen |first1=Meurig |title=Kenneth Bowen - Mae Hiraeth yn y Môr |url=https://sainwales.com/store/sain/sain-scd-2570 |website=Sain (record label) |accessdate=11 May 2019}}</ref> and brother of Hereford Cathedral Director of Music Geraint Bowen.<ref>{{cite AV media |last1=Mohr-Pietsch |first1=Sara |authorlink1=Sara Mohr-Pietsch |last2=Bowen |first2=Meurig |date=19 April 2015 |title=The Choir - The Choral Interview |medium=Radio broadcast |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02slmlz |access-date=11 May 2019 |publisher=BBC}}</ref>

Bowen was educated at William Ellis School, London, and King's College, Cambridge, where he was a choral scholar (1985–88). After graduating he spent six years at a London artist management company, where he was administrator of the Hilliard Ensemble. He then spent six years as artistic administrator of the Australian Chamber Orchestra in Sydney. He returned to the UK as director of the Lichfield Festival from 2002,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/stoke/stage/2003/05/lichfield_festival.shtml|title = BBC Staffordshire - Lichfield Festival}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Morley, Christopher |title=Farewell to Lumsden but greetings for Bowen |newspaper=Birmingham Post |date=8 July 2002 |page= 13}}</ref> and subsequently head of programming at the Aldeburgh Festival, before in 2007 becoming artistic director of the Cheltenham Music Festival, succeeding Martyn Brabbins;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_news.php?id=913|title=Meurig Bowen Announces The 2008 Cheltenham Music Festival Programme|date=6 April 2008|publisher= www.classicalsource.com Limited|accessdate=2009-12-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Paul Conway |title=Cheltenham Festival: Peter Maxwell Davies's Piano Quartet |journal=Tempo|volume=63 |issue=247 |year=2009 |page=61 |jstor=40072896}}</ref> he remained there until 2017. In December 2017 he became Head of Artistic Planning at the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rhinegold.co.uk/classical_music/meurig-bowen-steps-director-cheltenham-music-festival/|title=Meurig Bowen steps down as director of Cheltenham Music Festival|date=12 September 2017|publisher= Rhinegold Publishing|accessdate=7 February 2018}}</ref>

In 2017, Quarto Books/Wide Eyed Editions published ''The School of Music'', a children's book they commissioned him to co-wrote with his wife Rachel, illustrated by Daniel Frost.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Meade, Rita |title=Review: The School of Music |journal=School Library Journal|year=2017 |volume=63 |issue=4 |page=164}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Brown, Chris |title=Review: The School of Music |journal=School Librarian |year=2017 |volume=65 |issue=3 |pages=188–189}}</ref> The English language edition was followed in 2018 by translations in Brazil, Bulgaria, China, France, Korea and Russia. In 2020, Quarto pulped all available copies globally, due to the book's associated website being hacked by extortionists.

In August 2020, Bowen was appointed as Chief Executive and artistic director of the Britten Sinfonia, a chamber orchestra based in Cambridge,<ref>{{cite web |title=Meurig Bowen appointed Chief Executive and Artistic Director of Britten Sinfonia |url=https://brittensinfonia.com/2020/05/06/meurig-bowen-appointed-chief-executive-and-artistic-director-of-britten-sinfonia/ |website=Britten Sinfonia |date=6 May 2020 |access-date=23 November 2020}}</ref> where he remains as of 2023.<ref>{{cite news |author=Hewett, Ivan |title='Classical music is under fire': in the bunker with the embattled Britten Sinfonia |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=26 March 2023}}</ref>

At times, Bowen has been active as a music journalist and commentator,<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/aug/22/classicalmusicandopera | work=The Guardian | location=London | title=The music that dare not speak its name | date=22 August 2005 | accessdate=12 May 2010 | first=Meurig | last=Bowen}}</ref> writing for the national press<ref>{{Journalisted|meurig-bowen}}</ref> and for CD liner notes, notably on the Hyperion label.<ref>{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080505063807/http://www.musicalcriticism.com/recordings/cd-poulenc-0308.shtml |title=Poulenc: Gloria |date=May 5, 2008}}</ref><ref>For example, {{cite journal|author=Stephen Kingsbury|title=Review: ''Tormis'' by Stephen Layton |journal=The Choral Journal |volume=49 |issue=11 |year=2009 |pages=90–91 |jstor=23559433}}</ref>

Bowen's two-hander for actor and pianist, ''Erik Satie: Memoirs of a Pear-Shaped Life'', was premiered at the 2015 Cheltenham Music Festival,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jul/03/marc-andre-hamelin-erik-satie-memoirs-of-a-pear-shaped-life-reviews |author=Rian Evans |title=Marc-André Hamelin; Erik Satie: Memoirs of a Pear-Shaped Life reviews |newspaper=The Guardian |date=3 July 2015 |accessdate=26 November 2023}}</ref> and has since been performed at the Presteigne and Canterbury Festivals, St George's Bristol, in Oxford and New York.

==Notes== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * https://web.archive.org/web/20100207165520/http://cheltenhamfestivals.com/blog/tag/meurig-bowen/ 2010 Cheltenham Music Festival - Music 2010 - sneak preview * {{Journalisted|meurig-bowen}}

{{S-start}} {{Succession box| title=Artistic Director, Cheltenham Music Festival | before=Martyn Brabbins | years=2007-2017 | after=Alison Balsom}} {{S-end}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowen, Meurig}} Category:1965 births Category:Living people Category:Artistic directors (music) Category:Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Category:People educated at William Ellis School