William Owen

November 19, 2020

William is a native of Virginia and spent his childhood on his family’s farm. He graduated from Bowdoin College with Highest Honors in Music, attended the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna as a Fulbright Scholar and received his Master’s degree in Organ and Choral Conducting from Yale University. He served as Organist-Choirmaster of Christ Church Christiana Hundred in Wilmington, Delaware for 33 years and taught Organ at the University of Delaware and Rowan University. He was elected a Fellow Commoner at King’s College, Cambridge and received an honorary Doctorate of Music from the Episcopal seminary Nashotah House. He authored the biography of his mentor, Sir David Willcocks (A Life in Music, Oxford University Press, 2008) and currently resides on his family farm in Yale, Virginia and in Williamsburg where he has been volunteering for the Music Department at Colonial Williamsburg since early 2017. He interprets to the public while playing spinet harpsichords in costume. Bill’s interest in Longleaf Pine began when he inherited the family farm and was introduced to this exciting ecosystem by Brian van Eerden from The Nature Conservancy. He has since planted more than 1,200 acres of Longleaf on his property which now serves as the core of a TNC project area known as Raccoon Creek Pinelands. TNC holds an easement on his land which is now a preserve dedicated to Longleaf Pine and fire ecology. Bill is honored to represent the northern range of Longleaf Pine on the Longleaf Alliance Board.