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A TRUE MASTER OF HIS INSTRUMENT

bbc.com

 

 

 

 

Oliver believes in making the world a better place through music.

 

He has performed both solo and with orchestra at venues and festivals around the world and has been described as having an electrifying stage presence, charisma, talent for communication

and improvisation that makes him a performer of unique entertaining talent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whether it be a world premiere, entertaining millions live on TV, a profound experience of the Goldberg Variations or a charged tour-de-force of live improvisation, he delivers what cannot be taught: the finest inner musicality, intuition of a natural composer and an electrifying drive. He is a visionary on a mission, a charismatic leader, embracing everyone into the majestic world of sound with his poise, artistry and sensational interaction with audiences. 


His musical life started at an early age when he became the youngest winner of the EPTA trophy (as the most promising young pianist in Europe) aged seven, reclaiming the title again the following year.

 

He first performed as a soloist with the National Youth Orchestra 

aged eight, became the subject of numerous press features & live broadcasts aged fifteen, toured Siberia & founded the British-registered charity Siberian Appeal at seventeen, was hailed 'the 21st century Anton Rubinstein' after his extraordinary centenary revival of the Russian giant's 3rd piano concerto with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic aged nineteen & has since performed at venues, festivals and with orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Albert Hall, Tuscan Sun Festival, Festival Del Sole, The Barbican, Serenata Festival, Al Bustan Festival, Henley Festival, 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

City of London Festival, Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire, LPO, Royal Festival Hall, GSO, London 2012, Tsinandali Festival, EU Culture Week, Cadogan Hall, for the British royal family & for various charities including UNESCO, Children in Need, UN World Food Programme, Teenage Cancer Trust, DownsideUp Foundation, HemiHelp, Starlight, Siberian Appeal, Desire Tree Foundation & UNICEF.

He graduated as a prestigious Foundation Scholar with a first class Bachelors of Music with Honours degree and a Masters degree with Distinction from the Royal College of Music in London (supported by Professor Kendall-Taylor, the Soirée d'Or Award, St. Marylebone Educational Foundation and the Seary Trust).

 

In the past years, Oliver has been covered by media outlets including the BBC, Russia Today, The New York Times, Culture TV, News 24 & more.​

Oliver's desire is to create and perform music that can reach a diverse and international audience as well as highlighting the importance of the powerful & positive effects of music and creative arts in today's society. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oliver wrote the music for 2015 Nobel Prize winning author Svetlana Alexievich's play 'Enchanted with Death' which premiered at the

Maly Drama theatre in St. Petersburg and is now also staged in Moscow, Germany, France and Bulgaria. In 2012 he professionally encompassed pop song writing for projects which included a Brit award winning artist and numerous producers. 

 

He founded Siberian Appeal (which raised awareness and funds for a children's hospital in Barnaul, Siberia) after performing in the city and visiting the hospital, which had dilapidated wards and outdated equipment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He regularly performed for Siberian Appeal, including giving a solo recital at London's Cadogan Hall, where he also gave the world-premiere of a Phoenix Piano, a British instrument which was chosen specially for the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge's royal wedding.​ He performed Bach's Goldberg Variations, Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, improvisations and his own work, Altitude, described by International Piano Magazine as 'ethereal'. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Patrons of his charity were UNESCO Artist of Peace, opera star Angela Gheorghiu and author Lord Gawain Douglas.​​ In March 2012, Oliver was filmed by the BBC performing Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue for their primetime documentary 'Do or Die: Lang Lang's story' which is part of the BBC's Imagine series.

 

In the Summer of 2012, he gave several hugely popular shows at the London 2012 Olympic Park Live stage, performed at the Lord Mayor

of London's Team GB fundraiser & at the Olympic Torch Relay event in Dover. He also took part in the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games.​ 2013 engagements included performances at Cadogan Hall, the Al Bustan Festival (Lebanon) where he performed and gave several masterclasses, Henley Festival and the world-premiere of two works specially written for acclaimed artist Ana Corbero's 'I&I=US' exhibition/non-profit CD benefiting the UN's World Food Programme. Oliver was also appointed as an artist for EMMA For Peace, a non-profit global umbrella organisation for music education and cultural diplomacy in partnership with UNICEF, which launched with Oliver's track 'Altitude' at the 13th Nobel Peace Prize World Summit and released its international #MusicDiplomacy campaign on UN World Peace Day with Oliver's track '0 Day'.

 

2014 / 15 season engagements have included being the artist for the London Philharmonic Orchestra's #Rach campaign, performing special song covers for BBC Radio London (with boy band Blue and Britain's Eurovision representative Bianca Nicholas), a photoshoot for Town Magazine's 'Music Edition', several performances in Georgia both for the European Union's culture delegation led festival 'EU Culture Week' (promoting ties between Georgia and the EU) in September and in December at the Desire Tree Foundation concert, performing Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and live improvisations to a live TV audience of millions raising funds for children in need, as well as opening the 22nd International Al Bustan Festival in Lebanon with three performances in February, a sold out concert at the Royal Albert Hall in May, headlining World Music Day with a special sunrise concert in Croatia in June, as well as succeeding Delta Goodrem in performing worldwide for Loro Piana.

 

Since, Oliver has continued to enchant audiences around the world, shining on stage and off, with numerous performances for multi-million audience live TV concerts, new music video releases, recordings, magazine features, numerous collaborations with world-renowned musical stars, live CD releases, celebrated solo

recitals and viral videos, as well as becoming Artist in Residence then patron of The Opus Theatre, UK.  

 

Oliver also exclusively performed for the global launch of David Beckham and Simon Fuller's new whisky 'Haig Club' at their star-studded special launch event in Scotland, with a celebrity audience including Gordon Ramsay, Victoria Beckham and Jimmy Choo, and more recently was invited (alongside Beyoncé) to perform at the Ambani wedding in India, playing with multiple Grammy and Oscar winner A.R. Rahman.   

Oliver performed on Sky Arts for the world premiere of Christmas at the Castle with Carly Paoli, Joseph Calleja, Mario Stefano Pietrodarchi & friends in December 2020 and is youth ambassador for the 2022 International Composers Festival.

 

 

Totally at one with the difficult Goldberg Variations,

Poole played with disarming freshness and spontaneity.

The characterization was keen, the playing both thoughtful

and imaginative, deft and sprightly.

Personally, I believe Gould would have been pleased.

 

L. Pierce Carson, Critic

 

Poole was the driving force that held together the trio’s

give-and-take, delivering everything from lyrical trilling

runs – so light they might be a figment of the imagination

– to crisp, staccato chords with skill and evident pleasure.

 

Daily Star Lebanon

 

 

 

It wasn't until the final

piece that I was finally 

able to put my finger 

on what it was about 

Oliver's playing that

I enjoyed so much; 

it was the fact that 

he really knew 

how to make 

a piece of music 

exciting 

Helen Spoelstra, bbc.com

THE BEST GERSHWIN

I HAVE EVER HEARD

  LANG LANG

I have been to many piano recitals in my time but have never heard piano playing of the quality and expertise of Oliver Poole - 

 

He blew us all away!

 

Richard Sumner, BBC's Royal Correspondent  

 

 

 

 

 

 

OUTRAGEOUSLY TALENTED

 The Dubrovnik Times

Oliver Poole le magnifique

  L'Orient-Le Jour  

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