John Oliver, composer

News Archive before 2017

orchestral composition

Raven Steals the Light orchestral score revised

I finished revising my orchestral score Raven Steals the Light. Having run across the score I used for the first performance in 1999 and another performance in 2005, I realized there were some clear improvements that I could make to a few sections, and so voilà, there is a clean new score. In addition, I always thought that if the story were told as part of the performance – somewhat like Peter and the Wolf – that the audience experience would be enhanced. And so now there is a narrator part to tell the story.

You can hear an excerpt below from the end of the piece (where the eagle chases the raven to the horizon) from the original award-winning recording which is published by Centrediscs.
(Any problems seeing the excerpt? Click here to go listen on soundcloud.)



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Up Wind second performance a hit with musicians and audience

My composition UP WIND, originally commissioned and performed by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in 2004, got its second performance during the recent VSO New Music Festival. The orchestra was conducted by Maestro Bramwell Tovey. Read More...

Composer John Oliver wins Classical Composition of the Year at Western Canadian Music Awards

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John Oliver won the “Classical Composition of the Year” Award at the Western Canadian Music Awards this past Sunday night (October 6) for his orchestral composition Forging Utopia, (CD available here). Read More...

Oliver's "Forging Utopia" nominated at the Western Canadian Music Awards

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Oliver's "Forging Utopia" orchestral composition has been nominated for "Classical Composition of the Year" at the Western Canadian Music Awards, also known as Breakout West. Read More...