BIOGRAPHY
Having won both the Bernard Burrel Memorial Prize and the John Pollard
Scholarship for Musical Performance on the alto saxophone at the age of
17, Oliver went on to study music at the University of Edinburgh where he
won the Tovey Memorial Prize for Musical Performance, the first
saxophonist to achieve this distinction.
As a result he was invited to play as a soloist with the Edinburgh
University Chamber Orchestra. He was
also leader of the jazz orchestra for a Tartan Silk Production in the
Edinburgh Festival.
While at university, Oliver became increasingly
involved in music education, becoming a visiting teacher at primary
schools, a unit for young offenders a high security prison and Drake
Project Scotland
which works with physically and mentally handicapped adults and
children. This culminated with an
invitation from the organisation Warchild to
travel to Bosnia Herzegovina in March 1998 to work with children suffering
from trauma caused by the Balkan war.
In
recognition of his achieving a 1st for his performance recital
he was awarded a Buchar
Scholarship from the University. With this grant he took the opportunity to
undertake a Masters in Saxophone Performance at the Montréal Conservatoire
of Music under the guidance of Monsieur Claude Brisson,
saxophonist with the Montréal Symphony Orchestra. Whilst in Canada he played in masterclasses with Eugene Rousseau and Henri Pousseur as well as performing in the Montreal Chamber
Music Festival and the International Jazz Festival. He was also the runner up in the Reptigency Chamber
Music Competition
On returning to
Britain, Oliver spent a year performing classical and jazz saxophone
throughout the Northwest of England, including leading productions of ‘Guys
and Dolls’, ‘Anything Goes’ and ‘Fiddler on the Roof’. In 2003, Oliver was appointed
Head of Music Technology in the Junior Department of
Trinity College of Music, Greenwich
where he is now lecturing on the Undergraduate and Masters Composition
courses.
In
2005 Oliver commenced PhD studies in composition at Brunel University
with Peter Wiegold and Richard Barrett, focusing
on improvisation and live sound manipulation (max/msp)
in composition and performance.
Recent compositions have included pieces for The Southbank
Sinfonia, Piano Circus and Matthew Barley (cello)
as well as the collaboration with Lawrence Herklots on ‘Einstein – The
Musical’, received to critical acclaim upon première in 2007. Oliver is also a published author of
analysis for Naxos.
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