Described by Jan Popis as an ‘incomparable beauty of color and sound’ (Chopin Gazeta: 2005), Swedish-American pianist Oliver Jia has performed for audiences worldwide and is actively involved in concerts on three major continents. With a repertoire of dozens of concertos and over two hundred solo and chamber works, Oliver made his official debut at the Isaac Stern Auditorium in Carnegie Hall, playing Sergey Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 5 with the Juilliard Orchestra under Maestro James DePreist.

As a showcase for his diverse performing career, Oliver has performed with groups such as the St. Luke’s Orchestra, the Fort Worth Symphony, the National Symphony of China, and the Juilliard Orchestra. He has made solo and concerto appearances at venues such as Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, the Warsaw Philharmonic Hall, the Royal Dublin Society, and the Manhattan Center, as well as in leading concert halls in mainland China. Other notable engagements include tours and engagements in northern Italy (Bologna, Senigallia), China (many cities including Beijing, Nanjing, Suzhou, Yangzhou), the North Carolina Triangle Area (Raleigh, Durham, etc.), and individual recitals in Warsaw, Stockholm, Dublin, Hastings, and other European cities.

In addition to his solo career, Oliver is a busy chamber musician and has collaborated with many chamber music ensembles, particularly in the United States. He is also a busy pianist, working with a wide range of string, wind and vocal musicians on various projects. As a teacher, Oliver has maintained a private studio for twenty years and teaches both solo piano and chamber music. He was a member of the piano faculty at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley from 2017 to 2019. Since 2019, he has been Assistant Professor of Piano at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey.

Finally, Oliver is also actively involved in musical research. For his doctoral dissertation, Oliver presented a two-hour lecture recital on the complete set of Frédéric Chopin’s monumental Études, gave a performance and a talk on the subject. In addition, he has written several research articles on unique aspects of musicology not often covered in the mainstream of academic journals, including “Josquin des Prez: A Contrapuntal Study” (New Haven, CT. 2014), “Transcriptions: The Piano as a Publishing Medium” (New York, NY. 2012), and “The War of the Romantics: The Clash of Artistic Idealism” (New York, NY. 2006).

Oliver was born in Nanking into a family with a significant musical background (his grandparents were respected opera directors for decades) and grew up in Stockholm. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Michigan, an Artist Diploma from Yale University, and a Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees from the Juilliard School. His primary teachers include Logan Skelton, Peter Frankl, Jerome Lowenthal, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Oxana Yablonskaya, and Paul van Ness.