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Biography
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.
OPERA America/Opera.ca Grants Awarded
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| GRANT NAME | YEAR | Opera Fund/Canadian Opera Creation Fund | 2004 | Opera Fund/Canadian Opera Creation Fund | 2003 | Opera for a New America | 1993 |
Productions
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Artist Information
All information is derived from OPERA America's Season Schedule of Performances and titles databases which date back to 1991. OPERA America is constantly updating this data. If you feel that a work or an artist has been omitted or that information is incorrect, please use the linked forms below. Title Information Form Artist Information Form
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