It brings great joy to announce that Owen Phillip Reid has been appointed as Associate Director of Music of Saint Paul’s Church and Choir School. The Associate Director of Music forms an essential part of the team of musicians whose duties stand at the very center of the missions of Saint Paul’s Parish and Choir School and closely overlap with the Harvard Catholic Center and Catholic Forum. Owen comes to Saint Paul’s during a most auspicious and exciting time for our community. We will soon celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Choir School as well as the 100th anniversary of the consecration of the present Saint Paul’s church building.
Following in a line of illustrious predecessors at Saint Paul’s, Owen was selected from a long and impressive list of applicants. Owen shone greatly during his interactions with the Junior choristers. The adult members of the Parish Choir all remarked how enjoyable he was to work with. Perhaps most impressive of all, he managed to make our ailing and increasingly unreliable pipe organ sound far greater than the sum of its parts. Surely the Saints have been good to us!
Owen comes to us from the Episcipal Cathedral of All Saints in Albany, New York, where he serves as the Lloyd Cast Organ Fellow and works with the acclaimed Cathedral Choir
of Men & Boys (the oldest such ensemble in the US) under the inspiring leadership of Woodrow Bynum. Owen will take up his duties on July 15, 2022.
Director of Music James Kennerley comments: “I am overjoyed at Owen’s appointment. His extensive experience in training young boys’ voices and accompanying the kinds of liturgical music that Saint Paul’s exemplifies is extremely rare. At every step of the process, it was clear that his considerable gifts would be a perfect match for the Saint Paul’s community.”
Owen writes: “I am so excited to be joining James and the incredible team at St. Paul’s. I especially look forward to working with the junior choristers and playing a part in the life changing education that only an institution like St. Paul’s can provide.”
Owen received his early musical training in Weatherford, Oklahoma. During high school, after years of private lessons for piano and voice, he began his organ studies with Vicki Schaeffer. He then attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where he studied repertoire with Nathan Laube and improvisation and continuo with Edoardo Bellotti. He earned a Bachelor’s degree of Music and Musical Arts in 2017.
Owen went on to earn the Master of Music degree from the University of Cambridge (St. John’s College) where he served as graduate organ scholar of St. Catharine’s College. Owen worked with the mixed-voice college choir as well as the girls’ choir, played for all Evensong and Eucharist services in the chapel, and accompanied the choirs on tour. Further studies in continuo and analysis were with Geoffrey Webber.
Following Cambridge, Owen moved to Dallas, Texas to study with Stefan Engels at Southern Methodist University where he earned the Master of Music degree in 2020. Owen undertook studies in improvisation and harmony with George Baker and harpsichord and continuo with James Richman. Performance highlights from this time include playing for the East Texas Pipe Organ Festival.
In addition to his work as an organist and choral director, Owen is active as a composer and arranger. Recent compositions have been performed as far afield as Cambridge and London, UK and Dallas, TX, including his St. Catharine’s Service which was premiered by the Church of the Incarnation Choir under the direction of Scott Dettra.
In his spare time, Owen enjoys exploring local nature, hiking, reading, regular ensemble singing, playing tennis, and traveling.
The Billboard Classical chart-topping Saint Paul’s Choir of Men and Boys is one of the premier ensembles of its type in the country. The choir is comprised of boy choristers, educated in the European Cathedral school tradition at Saint Paul’s Choir School, in addition to altos, tenors, and basses. These individuals are drawn from Boston’s top professional singers in addition to the Choral Scholars, recent graduates of the Choir School. The choir performs hymns, plainchant, and the very finest choral music drawn from the Church’s extensive and rich repertoire weekly in the sublime acoustic of Saint Paul’s Church. The boy choristers offer daily choral services during termtime, in addition to frequent concerts, international tours, and recordings. They most recently collaborated with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Leonard Bernstein’s Kaddish Symphony.
Since the founding of the Choir School in 1963 by Dr. Theodore Marier, the choir has enjoyed long-time collaborations with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Boston Pops, in addition to producing two commercial CD recordings and making appearances at Fenway Park and on Good Morning America. They recently returned to Symphony Hall in a critically-acclaimed performance of Mahler’s Third Symphony with Benjamin Zander and the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra.
For more information, please visit our website or email music@saintpaulschoirschool.us.
Applications are encouraged for boys in grades 3 through 8 who display a love of music and singing. To apply, email admissions@saintpaulschoirschool.us.