Meet the Musician - Charles Owen on Mozart, Ravel & A Fairytale in Paris

Pianist and Yehudi Menuhin School alumnus Charles Owen enjoys an extensive international career performing a wide-ranging repertoire to outstanding critical acclaim. He appears at major UK venues such as Bridgewater Hall, The Sage, Wigmore Hall and Kings Place. Internationally, he has performed at the Lincoln Centre and Carnegie Hall in New York, the Brahms Saal in Vienna’s Musikverein, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and Melbourne Recital Centre. His chamber music partners include Alina Ibragimova, Johan Dalene, Imogen Cooper, Steven Isserlis and Augustin Hadelich. Ensemble collaborations encompass the Carducci, Heath, Sacconi and Takács string quartets.  

Ahead of his concert A Fairytale in Paris at the Surrey Hills International Music Festival on 14 May, where he will perform a two-piano, four-hands programme with Katya Apekisheva, Juho Pohjonen and Wu Qian featuring music by Mozart, Ravel and other French-inspired repertoire we sat down with Charles to talk more about the concert and work at the Menuhin Hall.   

Yehudi Menuhin School: What was your first musical memory?  

Charles Owen: I think there are a few, but I think age five or six, listening to the Pastoral Symphony on the His Master's Voice recording. It was an LP, this would have been in 1976/7, something like that.  

YMS: The Pastoral is a marvellous one to start with.  

Charles Owen: I think so too, because obviously it sounds like nature, it's so beautiful, it's so accessible, dramatic. It's like entering a landscape. Funnily enough, I was driving in the car the other day, coming back from Petworth, as I've just been made Co-Artistic Director of the Petworth Festival's Classical programme, and Radio 3 was playing the first movement of the Pastoral, and immediately I was back there.  

YMS: What was your journey to the Menuhin School, and how did you find it when you were there?  

Charles Owen: Well, my dad was a vicar in Hampshire. And I was playing the piano all the time and loving it, but not terribly seriously. And then we started having lessons with a lady who is actually still alive (she comes to the Menuhin Hall quite often). Her name's Anne Butterworth, and she said, “I actually think you should audition for the Menuhin School at 13.”   

She was also friends with Menuhin's chauffeur, an Australian. We're going back decades here. And the guy happened to be staying with her and said, “Oh, I think Charles should apply.” So, to cut a long story short, that’s how we found out about the Menuhin School.   

And they said, “You've missed the official deadline, you know, the auditions have gone, but let's have a listen to you.” So I turned up in August. I think Peter Norris was there as the Head of Music, and they auditioned me. I played the piano, played the violin appallingly - thank God they allowed me to give that up! They accepted me as a pianist on the spot, and then they moved in an extra bed. So the school became 49 pupils instead of 48.  

I’m still very much in contact, and I've been down to the school since the pandemic for recitals, chamber music with the students, and masterclasses. The last time I was down, I gave a two-piano concert.  

YMS: That's an interesting segue because my next question is: What makes you so fond of the hall? Because you’ve mentioned it with a real fondness in previous coverage.   

Charles Owen: Why do I keep returning to that space? Well, I feel so at home. I love the acoustics, the setting. Obviously, I've performed there as well many times, and there's actually quite a lot on YouTube of me playing there.  

Most of the time, there's very little extraneous noise. Most of the time, it’s silent. You feel undisturbed. I love the fact that you can go straight out, and you're surrounded by light. The setting is just ideal. I’m particularly fond of both grands. I've recorded on both, and I actually helped select your new Steinway.  It was in 2020 with the previous Director of Music, Ashley Wass - we went together to choose it from Steinway. Of all my recordings, the most personal one I made was Liszt: Années de pèlerinage, Suisse Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude, which I recorded just after lockdown. That was the first recording on the new piano.  

And, funny story, we did the very last takes and a bat started to whirl around the ceiling, somehow got into the Menuhin Hall, and we took that as a portent — we looked at our phones, and at that exact moment Boris Johnson announced a new lockdown. Maybe I'm romanticising, but that’s what happened.  

So acoustics and the piano, that's what I love. And the setting.  

YMS: Moving on...you were saying, off this call, that your upcoming concert is a sort of sequelto a concert in 2024?  

Charles Owen: Absolutely right. In fact, the picture used on the promotional material by the festival was taken literally at the end. It was such a joyful occasion. I think it’s kind of reflected in our expressions in the picture.  

YMS: And what is it like when there are four of you on the same instrument? Is it collaborative, or do you each have your own space?  

Charles Owen: Collaborative. All of us play chamber music, two pianos, four hands. Last time, we mixed and matched a lot more. You learn so much from performing with other pianists, how they sound, how you react together, how you breathe together. It can be incredibly inspiring. I’ve worked with many amazing pianists on two pianos, four hands, and nothing beats it.  

Piano is unique because we all play one instrument, yet audiences appreciate hearing distinct approaches—how four accomplished pianists can each give the instrument a unique voice.  

YMS: And the programme, you’ve done a lot of romantic repertoire, but also Mozart, four hands, two pianos?  

Charles Owen: Yes, one of the greatest ever written for two pianos, Mozart’s Sonata in D Major, K. 448 for Two Pianos. Bach wrote pieces for up to four harpsichords. Mozart takes it to another level; he’s kind of the father of the piano duet, especially putting two pianists together. He would have played with his sister, Nannerl. There’s a portrait of them playing together. It’s a real dialogue between the pianists, shared equally. Conversational.  

YMS: And do you feel that sense of showmanship when performing?  

Charles Owen: I hope so. There’s a real joie de vivre — you can feel how young Mozart was, revelling in counterpoint. It’s close to something symphonic, like the string quartets, with multiple voices moving simultaneously. The slow movement is sublime — it seems to float off the pianos.  

YMS: Final question: In terms of your education, which teacher or pianist inspired you when starting out?  

Charles Owen: We have to mention Irina Zalitskaya — a kind of godmother to the whole concert, as she taught both me, Katya (Apekisheva) and Wu (Qian). She and her husband, Felix Andryevsky, were brought over by Menuhin from Russia in the 1980s. She’d been a top prize winner in Warsaw and second in Poland in 1960. An Incredible pianist and incredible pedagogue with Moscow Conservatory training.  

I’ll never forget her playing at the Menuhin School—she performed for us frequently. She died far too young but was universally honoured and admired. She became a legend at the Menuhin School, transcending technique with her warmth and elevating the piano beyond mere mechanics. It was extraordinary. 

Hear Charles Owen perform a two-piano, four-hands programme with Katya Apekisheva, Juho Pohjonen and Wu Qian in A Fairytale in Paris at the Surrey Hills International Music Festival on 14 May 7:30pm.  

Get your tickets here