John Oliver

Biography

Sample Works

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. Based on these successes, 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 has also been Composer-in-Residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts, Vancouver Opera, Vancouver Chamber Music Festival, and Music in the Morning, receiving commissions from them, as well as from the 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, and the St. Lawrence Quartet, among others.

Oliver’s music has been heard at major international festivals, including the International Society for Contemporary Music World Music Days, the Juilliard School of Music Pacific Rim Festival, New Music Across America, Budapest Spring Festival, Ars Musica Festival (Brussels), Rendezvous Festival (London, England), En torno a los sonidos electrónicos (Mexico City), and the Subtropics III Music Festival (Miami, Florida), as well as in concert and on radio, 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 recent music combines new inventions with familiar and ancient musical materials and techniques from around the world, with a view to creating a perceptually-based, visceral listening experience. Master classes with I. Xenakis and Roger Reynolds, along with personal studies in perception, psychoacoustics, and social theory have contributed to his path. Oliver studied with composers with John Adams, Stephen Chatman, John Rea, Bruce Mather, and Philippe Boesmans. He holds a doctorate in composition from McGill University.

2003

John Oliver, Composer

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