Born in Hereford, Gwilym Bowen was a choral scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated with double-First class honours in Music, subsequently studying at the Royal Academy of Music.

In new opera he has created the roles of Tamino in Be With Me Now at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, with performances at La Philharmonie de Paris, La Monnaie de Munt and the National Opera of Poland, and the protagonists in two operas by Kate Whitley, Unknown Position and 0520. Roles at Royal Academy Opera included Gherardo Gianni Schicchi, Novice Billy Budd, Albert Albert Herring Sellem The Rake’s Progress and HRH Prince Phillippe A dinner engagement.

On the operatic stage, his diverse repertoire has included Pelléas Pelléas et Mélisande, multiple roles L’incoronazione di Poppea and Il ritorno di Ulisse in Patria with the Academy of Ancient Music at the Barbican Hall, in Venice and in Bucharest, Tom Rakewell The Rake’s Progress, Davey in Jonathan Dove’s Siren Song, Dwight/God Jerry Springer: the Opera, Sailor Dido and Aeneas, Intelletto in Emilio de’Cavalieri’s Rappresentatione di anima e di corpo and Lysander A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Aldeburgh.

Concert highlights include acclaimed Evangelists in both Bach passions, Bach cantatas with Masaaki Suzuki at Alice Tully Hall, New York City, Damon Acis and Galatea with the AAM at Milton Court, Mahler Das Lied von der Erde in Schoenberg’s chamber arrangement with the City of London Sinfonia, the role of Sylph in Rameau Zaïs with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Handel Messiah, Bach Mass in B Minor and Johannespassion arias for Stephen Layton and the OAE at St John’s, Smith Square, Handel Israel in Egypt and Solomon with the Holst Singers at Smith Square, Bach Weihnachts-Oratorium Evangelist for Ludus Baroque in Edinburgh and Oxford Philomusica/Merton College Choir at the Sheldonian Theatre, the Bach passions in Poland with Die Kölner Akademie and orkiestra historyczna, Britten Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings for the Amersham Festival and Orchestra of St John, Bromsgrove, and, with Brouwen, the vocal/instrumental chamber group he co-directs, Bach cantatas and Handel Dixit Dominus.

Upcoming engagements include Smith in And London Burned, a new opera by Matt Rogers and Sally O’Reilly for the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London, Handel Messiah with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, West Australian Symphony Orchestra and Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Bach passions throughout the UK and on the continent, including two recordings of the Johannespassion arias, and as Evangelist for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under John Butt, and a debut in the English summer opera season. In addition to a busy performing schedule, Gwilym also prepares performing editions and writes on music both at his blog, and for organisations such as the Three Choirs Festival, St Davids Cathedral Festival and Cheltenham Festival.