In demand throughout North America as a performer and teacher on historical oboes, Margaret Owens is on faculty in the historical performance institutes of Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music and the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University; at both institutions, her work centers around broadening the study of historical oboes, from playing the instruments to exploring the performance practices specific to the 18th century. She is a founding member of the chamber music group Kleine Kammermusik, whose 2017 album Fanfare and Filigree (Acis) has received critical acclaim. She is a featured soloist on the 2023 release, “Altissima,” from trumpeter Josh Cohen (Chandos). Margaret earned degrees in oboe performance at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, the Manhattan School of Music, and the City University of New York, where her doctoral work focused on oboe bands and their role in the entertainments at Louis XIV’s court, and led to further exploration and expertise in the French baroque masquerade.

A native of Eastern North Carolina, Margaret lives in Fairfax, Virginia with her music-historian husband and computer-enthusiast son. She is an active participant in the musical life of the Washington, DC area where she is a member of numerous period-instrument orchestras. Margaret has seen much of the US in her travels to play with groups spanning from San Francisco to Boston. Her summers are spent onstage at the Charlotte Bach Festival, the Staunton Music Festival, and teaching at the Amherst Early Music Festival.

*Meg Owens will be on faculty for Week 1 of the 2025 Amherst Early Music Festival.