Angellica Bell's Young Artist of the Week: Olivier Stankiewicz
Olivier plays Strauss' Oboe Concerto in D Major in the London Mozart Players Classical Club series on Thursday 15 October
Last updated 12th Oct 2020
Olivier Stankiewicz is principal oboist at the London Symphony Orchestra, a tutor at the Royal College of Music and later this month appears in the London Mozart Players Classical Club series playing Strauss Oboe Concerto in D Major.
And this week he was Angellica Bell's Young Artist of the Week. Hear her Saturday Breakfast Show from 7am every weekend.
Olivier was appointed principal oboe of the London Symphony Orchestra in 2015. He's sought out across the world as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher performing in venues like Wigmore Hall, and Snape Maltings, in addition to concert halls further afield in Europe, Japan and the USA.
In 2019 Olivier recorded the Mozart Concerto with the LSO, performed Attahir's Concerto with the Orchestre de Lille and took part in the Aix-en-Provence Easter Festival with Renaud Capuçon. Committed to new music, he premiered a new concerto commission by Laurent Durupt in Paris and London.
Awards include 1st Prize at the Oboe Competition in Japan, the Young Concert Artists international auditions in Leipzig and New York, and in 2016 he was a prize-winner at the YCAT International Auditions in London.
Olivier has appeared as guest principal with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Mahler Chamber, London Sinfonietta, Philadephia Symphony, Bayerischer Rundfunk and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestras. He was principal oboe of the ONCT between 2011-2015 and is currently Professor of Oboe at the Royal College of Music.
Born in Nice, Olivier studied oboe and theory at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris and completed his studies in 2014. He now tutors at the Royal College of Music in London.
Talking about his style of teaching, Olivier said to Angellica, "The best driving force is curiosity. I avoid fear based approaches. I think that’s counter productive. I simply try as much as I can to think outside the box and create curiosity."
On Thursday 15 October, Olivier appears in the London Mozart Players Classical Club series playing Strauss' D Major oboe concerto. Speaking about his many concert engagements across the UK and Europe Angellica asked, "What have been the highlights of your career so far?"
"There have been so many moments I’ve enjoyed and loved," explained Olivier. "There have been some concerts that were fun. It would be hard to single out one. You change. You look out for different things in different concerts as time goes on."
Watch Olivier Stankiewicz play Strauss' Oboe concerto in D Major as part of the London Mozart Players Classical Club series on Thursday 15 October 2020.