Short Bio

Vancouver-born John Oliver began his musical studies with the guitar at the age of 8, studying classical guitar in his native Vancouver with Robert C. Jordan. Oliver went on to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where he studied guitar with George Sakellariou, played in master classes for Leo Brouwer, Pepe Romero, Michael Lorimer, Abel Carlevarro and others, and also studied voice, piano and composition. His first composition teacher, the American composer John Adams, encouraged him to continue composing. After obtaining music degrees in composition from UBC and McGill (D.Mus.), Oliver studied briefly with Belgian composer Philippe Boesmans and completed perception research in Paris. During 1988/89 Oliver won six prizes for his compositions, including the Grand Prize at the CBC Young Composers' Competition. Since then he has been commissioned to write music for leading Canadian ensembles (Vancouver Symphony, Canadian Opera Company, National Arts Centre Orchestra, St. Lawrence String Quartet and others), and his music has been performed in North America and Europe. He has been Composer-in-Residence at the Music in the Morning Concert Series, the Canadian Opera Company, and most recently at the Windsor Canadian Music Festival. Oliver also performs a special "immersive sound" event using special guitars whose sound he transforms by realtime computer processing. His music appears on CDs from empreintes DIGITALes, earsay, CBC Records, ZaDiscs, SNE and McGill University Records.

Biography

Returning to his studio in the summer of 2007 after the marvelous successes of his one-week Composer-in-Residency at the Windsor Canadian Music Festival, and sold-out houses for the production of his new opera Alternate Visions by the Montreal Lyric Opera company, Chants Libres, Oliver embarked on a very busy period of writing that culminated in the composition and premiere of his Five-ring Concerto for the 2010 Vancouver Cultural Olympiad, a work commission and premiered by the Turning Point Ensemble.

John Oliver came to international attention during 1988/89 when he won six prizes for five compositions ranging from chamber to orchestral to electroacoustic music. Among these the "City of Varese Prize" at the 1988 Luigi Russolo Competition (Italy), and the Canada Council's Grand Prize at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's 8th National Competition for Young Composers for his live electroacoustic work El Reposo del Fuego. The Canadian Opera Company commissioned Oliver's first opera, Guacamayo's Old Song and Dance which they produced in Toronto and at the Banff Centre in 1991, the first full-length opera of their Composer-in-Residence program. Oliver's second opera, Alternate Visions, was presented in Montreal May 1 - 5 2007 by Chants Libres.

Oliver writes orchestral, chamber, vocal and electroacoustic music. Oliver’s music has been heard at international festivals, including the International Society for Contemporary Music World Music Days, and in concert and on radio world-wide, in performances by The Borromeo String Quartet, Camerata Transsylvanica, Canadian Opera Company, CBC Radio Orchestra, New Music Concerts, Nouvelle Ensemble Moderne, L’Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Pierrot Ensemble, Saint Lawrence String Quartet, Société de musique contemporaine du Québec, Vancouver New Music, Vancouver Opera, and others.

Oliver's symphonic work Raven Steals the Light (based on the ancient Haida story as retold by Bill Reid and Robert Bringhurst) was commissioned by the CBC Radio Orchestra and broadcast to all 21 member stations of the European Broadcasting Unions network in 1999 on their special series Myths and Music. He has also been commissioned by the Éditions Opus 102 (Montréal), National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, CBC Radio, CBC Radio Orchestra, Vancouver New Music, La Société de musique contemporaine du Québec, Ensemble Pierrot, among others. His music is published on CD by CBC Records, empreintes DIGITALes, SNE, McGill University Records, ZaDiscs, and earsay.

Performing Experience

Oliver has performed as guitarist with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Standing Wave Ensemble, Ensemble Symposium, Vancouver Chinese Music Ensemble, BC Chinese Music Ensemble, François Houle, Paul Dolden, Sergio Barroso, Mei Han, and Jeremy Berkman, and has appeared at various music festivals, and on the concert series of New Music Concerts, Vancouver New Music, Groundswell, Upstream, New Works Calgary, Music in the Morning. In 2002 he toured 11 Canadian cities with his group Structural Damage with guest improvisers Ron Samworth, Kasuhisa Uchihashi, and Yoshiro Otani. He currently plays in Duo Vita (violin and guitar duet) and the Oliver Yu Duo (featuring music for Chinese ruan and special guitars).

Electroacoustic Projects

As an advocate for electroacoustic music, Oliver has written and performed music for live electronics (with synthesizers, microphones, etc.), instrument(s) and tape, and tape alone. He was a founding member, in 1993, of G.E.M.S. (Group of the Electronic Music Studio), and was active with the ensemble, as composer, performer, and conductor, until 1987. From 1991 to 1993, Oliver played MIDI guitar with the Vancouver group MORE (with Sergio Barroso, Lori Freedman, and Peter Hannan) and since that time has been developing personal repertoire for his own performance project involving guitars, MIDI guitar, computer, and electronics and increasingly writes chamber music integrating his instruments. In the fall of 1997 he performed a set of this new music as part of the Body Electric Festival (Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria) and released a CD Icicle Blue Avalanche on the CD label called earsay, which he co-founded in the same year with composer/pianist Andrew Czink and designer Tanya Petreman for the promotion of new music.

Work-in-progress

Works for the Swedish electroacoustic new music group ARS NOVA, the Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra, as well as the combined forces of the BC Chinese Music Ensemble and NuBC Ensemble.