Oliver Leith (born 1990) is a British composer of classical and electronic music. His work has been commissioned and performed by many international ensembles including

Apartment House An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ...

Plus Minus Plus may refer to: Mathematics * Addition * +, the mathematical sign Music * ''+'' (Ed Sheeran album), (pronounced "plus"), 2011 * ''Plus'' (Cannonball Adderley Quintet album), 1961 * ''Plus'' (Matt Nathanson EP), 2003 * ''Plus'' (Martin G ...

and

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Richard Strauss, W ...

. He was appointed Doctoral Composer-in-Residence at the Royal Opera House in 2019.

Education and career

Leith studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (2009-2015), where his teachers included

Julian Philips Julian Philips is a British composer. Philips' works have been performed at major music festivals, including The Proms, Tanglewood, Three Choirs Festival, at the Wigmore Hall, South Bank Centre and Berlin Philharmonic Chamber Music Hall and by ...

and Paul Newland. His music has been performed at music venues including the

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade I l ...

, the

Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhi ...

, Wigmore Hall,

Kings Place Kings Place is a building in London’s Kings Cross area, providing music and visual arts venues combined with seven floors of office space. It has housed the editorial offices of ''The Guardian'' newspaper since December 2008 and is the for ...

and Snape Maltings. His music has been broadcast by

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

. In October 2022, Leith's debut opera, ''Last Days'' premiered at the Linbury Theatre. It was a co-production between the Royal Opera House and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. The title and concept for the opera were taken from the

2005 film 2005 in film is an overview of events, including the highest-grossing films, award ceremonies, festivals, a list of country-specific lists of films released, notable deaths and film debuts. Evaluation of the year Renowned American film critic a ...

of the same name by

Gus van Sant Gus Green Van Sant Jr. (born July 24, 1952) is an American film director, producer, photographer, and musician. He has earned acclaim as both an independent and mainstream filmmaker. His films typically deal with themes of marginalized subcultur ...

, which was a fictionalised account of the last days of

Kurt Cobain Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – April 5, 1994) was an American musician who served as the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter of the rock band Nirvana. Through his angst-fueled songwriting and anti-establishment persona ...

. The opera received generally positive coverage, with 4 star reviews in '' The Guardian'' and '' Financial Times''.

Recordings

His work has been commissioned and performed by international ensembles including

, BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Ives Ensemble, EXAUDI, 12 Ensemble, GBSR Duo, The Hermes Experiment,

and

. A recording of Leith's 45-minute piano and percussion piece ''good day good day bad day bad day'' was issued by UK experimental music label

Another Timbre Another Timbre is a record label, based in Sheffield and known for its releases of free improvisation, experimental and contemporary classical music. It was founded by television sound recordist Simon Reynell, who also engineers and produces most ...

in 2020, performed b
GBSR Duo
The album was chosen as a pick of the week by '' The Guardian'', who described it as having "moments of unexpected grandeur alongside sheer banality, yet somehow the mixture is curiously addictive." The album was also chosen as a highlight of 2020 by BBC Radio 3's New Music Show. Other releases of Leith's music include ''Medusa'', released by

Accidental Records Matthew Herbert (born 1972), also known as Herbert, Doctor Rockit, Radio Boy, Mr. Vertigo, Transformer, and Wishmountain, is a British electronic musician. He often takes sounds from everyday items to produce electronic music. Career Mat ...

in 2020, and ''Balloon'', released by the label SN Variations, again in 2020. In January 2020, ''12 Ensemble'' performed "''Honey Siren - II. (Full like drips)"'' by Leith. In July 2020, ''The Hermes Experiment'' released an album called ''HERE WE ARE'' featuring a composition by Leith''.''

Awards

Leith is a recipient of Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize in 2014,

British Composer Award British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

in 2016, and Ivors Composer Award in 2020.

Personal life

Leith lives in

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

. In 2020, he joined a crowd of protestors and posted a photo of himself brandishing an obscene gesture outside the family home of Dominic Cummings, following revelations that the latter had breached Covid lockdown restrictions.

References

External links

Oliver Christophe Leith
- official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Leith, Oliver 21st-century British composers 1990 births Living people