A finalist in the International Handel Singing Competition in 2020, Ruairi Bowen is much in demand as an interpreter of Baroque repertoire in the UK and abroad, collaborating with some of the leading conductors in the field including Emmanuelle Haïm, Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Stephen Layton. An experienced Evangelist of Bach’s Passions, Ruairi Bowen made his debuts at Wigmore Hall, Bachfest Leipzig and Snape Maltings with Solomon’s Knot, with whom he most recently sang J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio at London’s Wigmore Hall.
Other engagements have included the B Minor Mass with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, the St John Passion with both the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra as well as for the annual Good Friday performance with Polyphony and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the St Matthew Passion with Florilegium, Messiah at the Händel Festspiele Halle and The Creation with the London Mozart Players.
Other engagements have included Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with Ben Palmer conducting the Covent Garden Sinfonia, Mendelssohn’s Elijah in Worcester Cathedral and Vaughan Williams’ A Cotswold Romance with the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra.
On the operatic stage, he debuted Prologue/Quint in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw at Barnes Music Festival and took on multiple roles in Purcell’s The Indian Queen with Le Concert d’Astrée at l’Opera de Lille. He returned to Barnes Music Festival to sing Satvayān in Holst’s Savitri, featured in Sivan Eldar’s Like Flesh at Opéra national de Montpellier and was an Emerging Artist for Longborough Festival Opera 2022 singing Vistola Flume in Caccini’s La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola di Alcina.
His current engagements include staged performances of Die Schöpfung at Lithuanian National Opera, First Armed Man (Die Zauberflöte) with Scottish Chamber Orchestra at Edinburgh International Festival, Jim Cocks (Robinson Crusoe) for West Green House Opera, a revival of The Indian Queen with Le Concert d’Astrée in Caen, Antwerp and Luxembourg, his debut with English National Opera as Earl Tolloller (Iolanthe), Cyril (Princess Ida) with Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Evangelist / Arias (St John Passion) with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, J.S. Bach B Minor Mass with Opole Philharmonic, Christmas Oratorio with Britten Sinfonia and St John Passion with both The Instruments of Time and Truth and Polyphony, Magnificat at Tilford Bach Festival, Motets with Solomon’s Knot and St John Passion with Polyphony, Dies Natalis with The Hampstead Collective, Messiah with London Handel Orchestra and in Salisbury Cathedral, The Creation with the Hanover Band at the Southern Cathedrals Festival, Mozart Requiem with both Huddersfield Choral Society and London Mozart Players and Vaughan Williams Sancta Civitas with Oxford Bach Choir.
A graduate of King’s College, Cambridge, Ruairi Bowen was invited to sing on Proud Songsters, an album of English Solo Song recorded with pianist Simon Lepper, featuring distinguished former members of the world-famous chapel choir. His broadcasts and recordings further include Percy Grainger’s Brigg Fair and Nathaniel Dett’s Music in the Mine for BBC Radio 3 and Stanford’s Mass Via Victrix with the BBC National Orchestra & Chorus of Wales conducted by Adrian Partington on Lyrita CD.
Growing up in the Welsh Marches, he developed a keen interest in exploring the integrated relationship between poetry and nature through pastoral song with recent highlights including a recital on Innocence & Experience with Anna Tilbrook, performing Finzi’s A Young Man’s Exhortation and Tippett’s Boyhood’s End for Finzi Friends at Ashmansworth. He also performed on themes of The Games & Battles of Love for recitals at Raynham and The Grange Festival, directed by Michael Chance.
During the live music hiatus in 2020/21, Ruairi Bowen was a Support Worker for the Children’s Section of the British Refugee Council, and formed part of The Hampstead Collective, an ensemble dedicated to performing Handel Oratorio and Bach’s sacred works. He continues his studies with Nicky Spence and Caroline Dowdle, and when time allow returns to Herefordshire to play cricket for Brockhampton CC.
