Nicholas Oliver

• Job title: Head of Accompaniment
• Department(s): Accompanists
• Specialism(s): Accompanists

Nicholas Oliver as been Head of Piano Accompaniment at Chetham’s School of Music since 2003 and on the staff since 1997. He combines this busy role with leadership duties at the school and membership of the piano teaching faculty.

Born in London, Nicholas studied for four years at the Purcell School for young musicians before gaining a scholarship to study piano with Jean Anderson at the Royal Academy of Music from where he graduated with GRSM and LRAM qualifications.

Postgraduate studies continued at the Royal Northern College of Music with Marjorie Clementi, Martin Roscoe and Ka Kit Tam after which he was awarded the PGRNCM, awarded jointly by the college and Manchester university. Prizes gained included the RAM’s Elsie Cross prize for performance of twentieth century piano music and the Christian Carpenter award for piano accompaniment.

He won the Young Pianist of the Year Award in 1984 and second prize at the 1991 Dudley International Piano Competition, since when he has been enjoying a successful and varied career.

His performing career has encompassed solo recitals, concerto playing and numerous recitals with instrumentalists and singers for music societies and festivals throughout the UK. He has appeared several times at London’s South Bank, the Wigmore Hall and at most of Britain’s major concert halls.

Nicholas has undertaken concert tours in many European countries and has also performed in the Americas, Australia, Africa and Asia. He has broadcast frequently on radio and released several recordings.

Nicholas is an experienced adjudicator and has been a faculty member at summer schools including MusicFest Aberystwyth and the Manchester International Piano Summer School. He has given frequent seminars and masterclasses both in person and online, including ones for piano teachers and students in China. Maintaining a busy private teaching practice, he has taught piano and ensembles at the RNCM Junior School for several years and spent three years on the accompaniment staff at the senior RNCM.

For over twenty years Nicholas, has undertaken examining work in the UK and internationally for ABRSM, including the role of overseas tour coordinator. He is a member of the grade, diploma and jazz examiner panels and has additional roles on the examiner training, ITAC training and professional review teams. He has been an author of Teaching Notes for the graded piano syllabus and regularly delivers INSET for teachers across the UK and overseas on many aspects of exams and examining in general, and on piano syllabuses and teaching in particular. Since 2022 he has been in the role of examiner consultant helping to devise and introduce the new suite of ABRSM Diploma exams.

He was a founder member of The Commonwealth Resounds, a charity dedicated to promoting music and musicians across the Commonwealth and in that capacity has worked with students, teachers and professional musicians in Africa, the Caribbean, Malta, Australia and Sri Lanka.

Nicholas was made an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 1997 and was elected to the Royal Society of Musicians in 2000.