Biography

San Francisco native Oliver Herbert’s recent solo and recital appearances include his debuts with the Chicago Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic, Las Vegas Philharmonic, Curtis Symphony Orchestra, and the Dame Myra Hess Recital Series in Chicago, among others. Formerly a member of the SFS Youth Orchestra, he made his San Francisco Symphony debut in December 2017 in the SoundBox series. Mr. Herbert is currently under the tutelage of Carter Brey and Peter Wiley at the Curtis Institute of Music. Previously, he was a student of Clive Greensmith at the Colburn School.

Mr. Herbert has worked with conductors such as Michael Tilson Thomas, Juanjo Mena, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin and as a chamber musician, he has performed with some of the leading musicians of our time including Shmuel Ashkenasi, Franklin Cohen, Pamela Frank, Miriam Fried, Nobuko Imai, and Meng-Chieh Liu. In addition, he frequently performs as a duo with pianist Xiaohui Yang; they will embark on tours in the United States and Greece in the 2018-19 season.

Mr. Herbert is frequently invited to participate in music festivals including the Caramoor Festival, ChamberFest Cleveland, Krzyżowa Music, Music in the Vineyards, Open Chamber Music at IMS Prussia Cove, the Ravinia Festival Steans Music Institute, and the Verbier Festival Academy. In addition to being a fellow at the Ravinia Festival, he was also invited to perform on a tour with festival director Miriam Fried. At the 2017 Verbier Festival, he was awarded the Prix Jean-Nicolas Firmenich.

Mr. Herbert’s most recent awards include a top prize and special prize in the XI Witold Lutosławski International Cello Competition in 2018, first prize and the Pablo Casals Prize in the 2015 Irving M. Klein International String Competition, and a top prize in the 2015 Stulberg International String Competition.

Mr. Herbert currently plays on a 1769 Guadagnini cello that belonged to the Italian cellist Antonio Janigro, on generous loan from the Janigro family.

(September 2018)