American pianist and composer Owen Dodds leads a diverse and stimulating musical life, driven by his urge to share the music he enjoys. A native of North Carolina, Owen currently resides in New York City, where he performs as classical soloist, chamber musician, song writer, and composer. He has appeared in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, Lincoln Center’s Clark Studio Theatre, and Rockwood Music Hall. 

 

Owen’s recent performance highlights included a performance of Bartok’s 3rd Piano with the Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra conducted by Xian Zhang, a performance of John Cage’s Credo in US with percussionist Eduardo Leandro, and an all Vaughan Williams program featuring University of North Carolina School of the Arts faculty members Paul Sharpe, Brooks Whitehouse, Jordan Bak, and Glenn Siebert.  

 

An active collaborator and chamber musician, Owen is a member of multiple award-winning ensembles including the Mozze Trio, scheduled to make their Carnegie Hall debut in Fall 2026, and the Béla Trio, recipients of the Donald Spieth Award for chamber music. Owen’s modern-folk duo, Early Gray, with guitarist Drake Duffer, has released two albums of original music, has collaborated with artists including Gabriel Kahane and Tanner Porter, and were featured on PBS North Carolina. 

 

Owen has been described as a “highly gifted composer with a very personal style”. He recently premiered his piano sonata, American Dreams, at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Canada.  His Fantasy for flute and string quartet will premier later this summer at Manchester Music Festival. His works have been featured as a part of Stony Brook’s Contemporary Chamber Players, The New School’s Tech Forward concert series, Blairsville Chamber Music Festival, and the Weekend of Chamber Music Festival in the Catskills of NY. Owen’s upcoming commissions include a percussion-piano piece for the Concurrent Duo.

 

Owen has received awards in solo piano competitions including Music Teachers National Association, the Baltimore International Piano Festival Competition, the Malaysian International Music Competition, and the Stony Brook Concerto Competition. He has appeared as a concerto soloist with the Stony Brook University Symphony Orchestra, UNC School of the Arts Symphony Orchestra, and the National Academic Orchestra of Ukraine. 

 

Owen began his official music studies at UNC School of the Arts, receiving instruction from Clifton Matthews and Dmitri Shteinberg for his high school diploma and bachelor's degree. His other primary teachers have included Gila Goldstein at BU and Vladimir Valjarević at Mannes. He is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Stony Brook University, where he studies piano with Gilbert Kalish and composition with Perry Goldstein. He has been fortunate to receive chamber music coaching from members of the Emerson String Quartet and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

 

Owen currently serves as a member of the piano faculty at Hoff-Barthelson Music School and as an artist staff member at Manhattan School of Music.