Biography of Lewis Oliver:

International violin virtuoso OLIVER LEWIS, star of Spirit of the Dance and hailed by the New Zealand media as ‘The fastest fiddler from the West’, recently played live on Chinese TV to over 2 billion people. His phenomenal world record breaking speed in The Flight of the Bumble Bee is unmatched by any other violinist. He made his concerto debut as a child prodigy at the age of 12 with the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain. Winning scholarships to the Purcell School of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and the Berne Conservatoire he was trained by the world’s greatest teachers. He made his sensational European debut in 1991 playing Ravel’s Tzigane and Bruch’s G minor Violin Concerto as soloist with the Bern Symphony Orchestra. Immediately afterwards he was made soloist and leader of the Heidelberg Chamber Orchestra with whom he toured Europe, performing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons over 400 times. His concerts have taken him throughout Europe, the United States of America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, China, Taiwan, Brazil, South Korea, Trinidad (performing for the President of Trinidad and Tobago live on TV), and of course Great Britain, where his regular recitals at the Wigmore Hall and recent performances of Bruch’s G minor Violin Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra were box office sellouts. His numerous recordings have met with great critical acclaim, most recently recording the Fantasy by Nigel Hess as soloist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by the composer. He has recorded extensively for Guild Music, winning the top double five star award from Classic CD Magazine for his recording of Elgar’s Violin Sonata and the complete works for violin by Eugene Goossens (GMCD 7120 + 7124). Other recordings include many world premiers: Jelmoli Variations (GMCD 7189), Kayser Chamber Music (GMCD 7163), Eschmann Fantasy and String Quartet (GMCD 7171), and the complete String Quartets and chamber music of Sir Malcolm Arnold as leader and director of the Ceruti Ensemble of London (GMCD 7216). He also recorded Bach’s G minor Fugue which features on the solo violin soundtrack to the recent British film Ladies in Lavender (starring Dame Judi Dench). An avid performer of new music, he has had many works written especially for him including Insomnia by British composer John Pickard which he premiered at St David’s Hall Cardiff, and Nicholas Brown’s Silence is Golden which he gave the world premier performance of at the Dartington International Festival. With his piano trio he has recorded two new scores to the classic silent movies Lady Windamere’s Fan and After Death, released worldwide on DVD by the British Film Institute. Oliver Lewis gives master classes at the Dartington International Summer School, and is sponsored by the leading American string manufacturer D’Addario and he endorses their products. Also a superb actor, he played the lead role in a series of TV commercials for Opel cars, starred in the film Inverse Canon as the onscreen violin double of Hollywood superstar Gabriel Byrne, and was violin double to Daniel Bruhl in the film Ladies in Lavender. ‘The virtuoso tantalized the audience with his musical dexterity and charm’ Trinidad News ‘Virtuosic, seamless brilliance, the audience asked for more’‘ London Evening Standard ‘Technically exemplary performance, an exciting aural experience’ The Strad ‘Magnificent talent, he took the audience into another world’ Guardian ‘Exciting performance, full of swagger and panache’ Gramophone 'A fine Player ... underlying musical intelligence' Independent ‘His noble tone breathed with artistic phrasing’ Der Bund ’Lewis left the audience mesmerized’ Daily Express ‘Hyper-active bow shredding mania’ Tulsa World ‘Mesmerizing gypsy élan’ Der Bund