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kenneth owen

Faculty: Kenneth Owen

Conductor, pianist and educator Kenneth Owen is the chair of the music, art and philosophy departments at Pierce College Puyallup and is on the Music Faculty. Ken directs the Concert Choir (50-70 voices) and Chamber Choir (15-20 voices) at Pierce College as well as a children's choir through the community education department. Ken also serves as a member of the state board for the American Choral Directors Association as the Two-year College Choir representative for repertoire and standards, and is a member of the Washington state work group charged with creating an Associate of Fine Arts degree to help community college students matriculate more smoothly to music departments at universities. Ken also teaches music theory, music appreciation, and world music courses as well as piano and voice lessons. Outside of Pierce College, Ken directs a select vocal ensemble, Canto del Cuore, writes program notes and lectures for Northwest Sinfonietta, and enjoys time with his wife and children.

Ken received the Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance and pedagogy from the University of Utah, where he studied with Frank Wienstock and Dr. Barlow Bradford. Ken went on to study conducting with Dr. Ronald Staheli and to work with the renowned choirs at Brigham Young University. There he received the Master of Music degree in Choral conducting and also studied orchestral conducting. While at BYU Ken sang with the BYU Singers and sang on their best-selling album "Eric Whitacre, the complete a cappella works 1991-2001." At Arizona State University Ken received his Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in choral conducting and also studied orchestral conducting with Dr. Timothy Russell. Ken has studied and worked with such conductors as Paul Salomonovich, Dale Warland, Craig Jessop, Simon Carrington, and Jerry McCoy.

In addition to his work at Pierce College, he has directed many notable academic ensembles including the Arizona State University Concert Choir, ASU Women's Chorus, Brigham Young University Concert Choir, the 180-voice BYU Women's Chorus and others. Ken has also conducted the BYU University and String Orchestras. He has been working with church choirs and community choirs since 1995 and has performed with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square for their radio and television broadcasts.