Hitting All the Right Notes - Lindsay Alexander Owen

Music became a leading conductor in Lindsay Alexander Owen’s life beginning at age four. 

Now as the Director of Middle and Upper School Choirs at Tower Hill, she helps young Hillers find their own passion for music. Owen joined the school in 2021 after serving as voice teacher and musical director at Mercersburg Academy in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, for 15 years.  

Owen’s journey into choral music began in her childhood church, where she joined the choir at age four. At eight years old, she began playing the piano, diversifying her musical talents. She continued her training in college, where she initially pursued a piano performance major at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. But after a year, she quickly knew she wanted to study more than piano. 

This led to a double major in voice and piano. As graduation approached, Owen wasn’t completely sure what her next step should be. Her choral director suggested she look into working in choral music and the idea instantly clicked. 

Owen stayed in Nashville to attend Belmont University to receive her masters of music degree in Church Music in Choral Conducting. As the first enrolled student in the program, Owen worked closely with her conducting professor. 

“He was a brilliant conductor and just amazing,” she remembers. “I basically had private lessons for three years as I worked to earn my degree.” 

During her time at Belmont, Owen was able to sharpen her conducting skills by working with the choral groups on campus. Her experiences in and out of the classroom jumpstarted her career, first in church choirs and as musical director for theater troupes, and eventually to independent schools. 

She was drawn to Tower Hill for the ability to direct multiple different choirs and ensembles within a community that was passionate about music and the arts. Owen arrived at the school in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when live performances and large gatherings were nonexistent or socially distanced.  

As restrictions subsided, she has seen the choirs grow from 95 students her first year to 140 students involved today. Working on music with students is a very creative process, leading to a different kind of teacher-student bond. 

“It is about the relationships you build with the students,” she says. “That creates a safe space for them to come and sing, and it creates the desire to be in a group like this.” 

Owen works with students beginning in fifth grade. After eighth grade, they either decide to continue with choir or pursue another area of the arts. Whether they decide to continue in choir until graduation or stop at eighth grade, she gets to see firsthand their hard work and growth over multiple years. 

“I have the box office record of all of our concerts. Every once in a while, the students ask, ‘Can we watch ourselves from fifth grade?’ Which is really fun,” she adds. 

Students participate in a variety of performances during their time in choir, including a winter and spring concert. As they progress through the program, Owen provides opportunities for students to perform at choral adjudications where a choir performs for expert judges who provide feedback. Seventh and eighth grade students will often go to Hersheypark while the Concert Choir will perform at Disney World or Universal Studios every other year. The Vocal Ensemble is invited yearly to sing the National Anthem at the Wilmington Blue Rocks game. 

The Vocal Ensemble for Upper School students provides an additional chance to dig deeper into strengthening their vocal skills and gaining experience performing. 

The Upper School Vocal Ensemble received an invitation to participate in the International Festival Choir Collaboration at Cadogan Hall for Vox Anima London’s biennial “Sing Here Together with VOCES8” event this spring. They joined four other nationally recognized high school choral programs in the United States. 

Owen said the opportunity came to be by chance. She posted a video of the Vocal Ensemble performing on social media, and when it appeared on the feed of a coordinator from VOCES8, the group was formally invited. Once everything was confirmed, Owen shared the news with the students. 

“They were in shock,” she remembers. “They were like, ‘How is this even possible?’ So, yeah, they were beyond thrilled.” 

This was Owen’s first time abroad, something she’s incredibly grateful for. Along with performing, she and the students did plenty of sightseeing through London including checking out the Tower of London, Big Ben and the London Eye. Some Hiller parents even joined the group to applaud during the performance. 

The accolades for Owen’s choir and Vocal Ensemble students don’t stop there. 

The 2025-2026 Delaware All-State Chorus auditions also saw eight junior chorus and six senior chorus Tower Hill students earn top placements and secure spots in the ensembles.

Tower Hill School also hosted the Four-School Choral Festival this January, which included Sanford, Tatnall and Wilmington Friends School, another first for Owen. 

Seeing all that her students accomplish keeps Owen enthusiastic and motivated for what comes next. She says that, with students entering her classroom at all skill levels, it’s a fun challenge to bring everyone together and make music that sounds cohesive. Through the mindset of Multa Bene Facta, she sees her classes determined to achieve Many Things Done Well, gain skills and perform to the best of their abilities. 

And the end result is always something special. 

“I’m just looking forward to being with these students, continuing the tradition and seeing where they go and how they grow,” she adds.