Asher Oliver is appointed assistant organist for York Minster, UK. He will assist Robert Sharpe, the director of music, and Benjamin Morris, assistant director of music, in all aspects of music for the cathedral. In addition to accompanying services and working with the choir on a daily basis, Oliver will also assist with the choir library and gain experience of recitals, concerts, and live radio broadcasts.
Oliver began his musical education as a chorister at Manchester Cathedral while studying at Chetham’s School of Music, where he later studied organ with Christopher Stokes. Following a gap year as organ scholar at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, he studied for a music degree at Trinity College, Cambridge. Working closely with the college choir there, he took part in tours across Europe, the United States, and Canada and is featured as an accompanist on CDs of choral music by Gerald Finzi and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Upon leaving Cambridge, Oliver moved to London to take up the position of organ scholar at St. Paul’s Cathedral.
A continuo player, Asher Oliver regularly took part in performances of Bach cantatas and oratorios while a student, highlights of which include a project working with players from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under the direction of John Butt, as well as a performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, for which he worked closely with English tenor and evangelist, Nicholas Mulroy.
For information: yorkminster.org.
Other recent appointments:
Matthew Dion to Christ Church Cathedral, Houston
