Rob Cowan (born 14 April 1948) is an English music broadcaster and

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

. Employed by music publisher

Boosey & Hawkes Boosey & Hawkes is a British Music publisher (sheet music), music publisher, purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass instrument, brass, string instru ...

for nineteen years in various capacities, his first record review was published in 1967."Radio 3 Presenter: Rob Cowan"
BBC Radio website He edited '' CD Review'' for four years from 1985, and has also contributed reviews to ''

Gramophone A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding physic ...

'', '' Classic Record Collector'' and ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

''. He was a co-presenter with

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

writer Keith Shadwick on the Classic FM CD review programme. In September 1992, he was responsible for early radio plays of what became a best-selling recording (with soprano soloist

Dawn Upshaw Dawn Upshaw (born July 17, 1960) is an American soprano. She is the recipient of several Grammy Awards and has released a number of Edison Award-winning discs; she performs both opera and art song, and her repertoire spans Baroque to contempo ...

) of

Henryk Górecki Henryk Mikołaj Górecki ( , ; 6 December 1933 – 12 November 2010) was a Polish composer of contemporary classical music. According to critic Alex Ross, no recent classical composer has had as much commercial success as Górecki. He became a l ...

's Third Symphony. After presenting ''CD Masters'' on Radio 3 for several years (the other host was Jonathan Swain), he had a spell as co-presenter of

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

's ''

Breakfast Breakfast is the first meal of the day usually eaten in the morning. The word in English refers to breaking the fasting period of the previous night. Various "typical" or "traditional" breakfast menus exist, with food choices varying by regi ...

'' from 2007. He subsequently presented Radio 3's ''Essential Classics'' alongside Sarah Walker and ''Sunday Morning'' alongside James Jolly. He also appeared on Radio 3's ''CD Review''. In December 2017, he returned to Classic FM to present a Saturday evening programme."Rob Cowan swaps Radio 3 for Classic FM"
"Radio Today (website), 8 December 2017 Cowan received a Grammy for his work on RCA's Heifetz Collection and is a member of the Royal Society of Musicians. He has been married to Georgie since 1971 and has two adult daughters, Francesca and Victoria, and a granddaughter Elizabeth.

References

External links

"Rob's Retro Classical
- Blog site
Rob Cowan on Classic FM
1948 births Living people BBC Radio 3 presenters {{UK-radio-bio-stub