Featured Artist – Mary Oliver

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Mary Oliver violin, viola

Mary Oliver, violin, viola, hardanger fiddle, explores virtuosity in both scored and improvised music. Oliver (b. La Jolla, California) studied at San Francisco State University (Bachelor of Music), Mills College (Master of Fine Arts), and the University of California, San Diego, where she received a Ph.D for research in the theory and practice of improvised music.
As a soloist, Oliver has premiered works by, among others, Richard Barrett, John Cage, Chaya Czernowin, Brian Ferneyhough, Joëlle Léandre Liza Lim, George E. Lewis, Richard Teitelbaum and Iannis Xenakis. She has performed in numerous international festivals including the Darmstädter Feriendurse für neue Musik, Donaueschinger Muziektage , The Holland Festival, Vancouver and Toronto Jazz Festivals, Ars Electronica , Ars Musica, Münchener Biennale, Mount Fuji Jazz Festival, Salzburger Festspiele and Maertz Musik Festspiele. She has worked with a.o AACM Black Earth Ensemble, Elision Ensemble, Het National Ballet and MAE.
Based in Amsterdam, Oliver is a key member of the improvising community, locally and internationally. She has performed with musicians a.o. Han Bennink, Erik Bosgraaf, Mark Dresser, Tristan Honsinger, Joëlle Léandre, George E. Lewis, Alexander von Schlippenbach Anthony Pateras and dancers a.o Katie Duck, Michael Schumacher and Sabine Kupferberg . Oliver teaches workshops and gives lectures about improvisation internationally (Tokyo, Chicago, Den Haag, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Harvard University, etc.). She is on the faculty at the Hogescool voor het Kunst Utrecht and is a member of the Instant Composers Pool (ICP) Orchestra.
Recent projects include The Whammies a sextet playing the music of Steve Lacy with Jorrit Dijkstra, Jebb Bishop, Jason Roebke, Han Bennink and Pandalis Kyriorgis and Queen Lear a dance piece with Choreographer Michael Schumacher as composer/performer in Schumacher’s Queen Lear.