Carmarthenshire-born baritone Owain Rowlands is an Associate Artist with Welsh National Opera. He studied at the David Seligman Opera School at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama (RCMD), where he was supported by the Sir Geraint Evans Centenary and Ryan Davies Scholarships. He previously gained an MA (Performance) with Distinction and DipRAM from the Royal Academy of Music, and a BA in Mathematics and Music with First Class Honours from Cardiff University.
Recent engagements have included Jailer in Tosca, covering the Notary, Guccio and Pinellino in Gianni Schicchi, Maximilian in Candide, and Mr Evans in Blaze of Glory! with Welsh National Opera, Brikbrak in Alcina's Island for Bampton Classical Opera, John and Pete in Impresario at the Buxton International Festival, the title role in Don Giovanni and Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream at RWCMD, and soloist on Welsh National Opera's New Year's Celebration Concert Tour. This summer he makes his role debut as Schaunard in La bohème with Waterperry Opera Festival before singing the role with Welsh National Opera in the autumn. He recently made his Royal Albert Hall debut as a soloist in the Festival of Massed Welsh Male Voices.
Owain's competition successes include winning the Sir Ian Stoutzker Prize, the W. Towyn Roberts Scholarship, London Welsh Young Singer of the Year and Llais Llwyfan Llanbed, and being a finalist in the Sir Bryn Terfel Scholarship and Pendine International Voice of the Future competitions.
He has performed internationally in Philadelphia, New York and Washington, DC, for St David's Day celebrations, and has appeared on Welsh television programmes including Noson Lawen, Dechrau Canu Dechrau Canmol, Heno and Eisteddfod broadcasts. He sang at the enthronement of the Archbishop of Wales and proudly represented Wales as an International Artistic Ambassador for the Urdd and RWCMD at Expo 2025 in Japan. He has taken part in masterclasses with Sir Bryn Terfel, Rebecca Evans, Christopher Maltman, Nicky Spence and Dennis O'Neill. A long-standing member of the award-winning Adran Penrhyd Welsh folk dancing group, Owain maintains a deep connection to his Welsh cultural heritage.
August 2026
