Matthew Olyver - Composer + Violist + Teacher

Matthew Olyver is an award winning composer (most recently, the 2019 Greater London Arts Society Composition Prize) whose music is regularly performed by some of the leading orchestras, music ensembles and soloists in the world.
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Recent highlights include: a piano concerto written for Soma Balázs Piri and the London Mozart Players, the soundtrack for the feature film Iris Warriors written for the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra, and a piece for viola and piano written for and performed regularly by the internationally acclaimed viola soloist Timothy Ridout. He has also written pieces for ensembles such as CHROMA, the Berkeley Ensemble and Block4 and his music has been performed in the Dartington, Cheltenham, Waterloo and Spitalfields music festivals.

​With a significant background as a violist, Matthew has co-led the viola section of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and now regularly performs his own music within the ensemble setting of the Olyver New Music Collective (a collective of performers and composers Matthew has founded). 

Matthew is also a passionate teacher of music theory, composition and viola/violin and he runs an extensive teaching practice in London. He is also a composition and orchestral workshop leader for the Procorda Young String Experience.  He teaches students of all levels and ages, ranging from beginner to degree level. Alongside his PhD in Composition (at Royal Academy of Music), he is studying towards a University of London postgraduate certificate in teaching and learning at higher education. He also facilitates learning through practical music making at the Royal Academy of Music as part of his role as Manson Fellow of Composition. For enquiries about lessons, please contact his personal email address: matthewolyver@ram.ac.uk.