Oliver started to play the cello at the age of eight under the tuition of Sylvia Mann. He subsequently joined the Junior Department of the Royal College of Music and was awarded a music scholarship to Brentwood School.
He has attended Chethams School of Music since 2007 where he studies with Gillian Thoday. In his first term at the school Oliver was a prize winner in the Junior Concerto Competition. In 2009 and 2011 he won the Ida Carroll Scholarship and was awarded the Performance Diploma of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music with distinction in 2009. In February 2011 he was awarded an opportunity for a major public performance in the Senior Concerto Competition.
Oliver is principal cello of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain with whom he has played in the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. He was previously principal cello with the under 13 National Childrens Orchestra. Whilst at the Royal College of Music he played in a string quartet which was invited to perform at the House of Lords for the inauguration of the Childrens Act in 2007 and performed for Prince Charles when he visited the Royal College of Music.
In 2007 Oliver received an award from the Tom Acton Memorial Trust and in 2009 he was awarded the Geoffrey Shaw Scholarship by the Musicians Benevolent Fund as part of the prestigious Suggia award for cello.
Oliver has performed in lunchtime recitals at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester and participated in the Bergen International Music Festival in Norway. He has several public performances scheduled during the coming year as a soloist and in chamber groups. Oliver will commence his under-graduate studies later this year at the Royal Northern College of Music where he will study with Hannah Roberts.
Oliver plays a cello that was made in Manchester in 2008 by Helen Michetschlager based on one by G B Ruggieri.