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Óliver Kentish fæddist árið 1954 í London þar sem hann hóf sellónám 12 ára gamall í Centre for Young Musicians. Hann stundaði framhaldsnám við Royal Academy of Music þar sem aðalkennari hans var Vivian Joseph. Nokkur verka hans voru flutt á námsárum hans þar, þ. á m. Three Songs of Death fyrir baritóneinsöng, strengjakvartett og strengi. Við frumflutning þessa verks í Royal Academy steig hann fyrst fram opinberlega sem hljómsveitarstjóri. Árið 1977 kom hann til Íslands til þess að leika með Sinfóníuhljómsveit Íslands.
Frá árinu 1978 kenndi hann í átta ár við Tónlistarskólinn á Akureyri og var einn af stjórnendum hljómsveitar skólans. Þar stjórnaði hann jafnframt frumflutningi nokkurra verka sinna, svo sem á Myrkraverki, sem var einnig flutt á fyrstu heimsráðstefnu World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE) í Skien in Noregi, á Bretlandi og á tónleikum Sinfóníuhljómsveitar Íslands. Árið 1986 réði Óliver sig til Tónlistarskóla Hafnarfjarðar þar sem hann stofnaði Kammersveit skólans 1992.
Óliver er mjög afkastamikið tónskáld og er meðlimur í Tónskáldafélagi Íslands. Vert er að nefna að árið 1994 pantaði breska ríkistjórnin verk hjá honum sem gjöf til íslensku þjóðarinnar í tilefni 50 ára afmæli lýðveldisins. Óliver hefur unnið til verðlauna fyrir tónsmíðar sínar, annars vegar fyrir sálm við texta eftir Dr Sigurbjörn Einarsson vegna þúsund ára afmælis kristnitöku á Íslandi árið 2000 og tveimur árum seinna vann hann til fyrstu verðlauna í samkeppni um nýtt verk fyrir karlakór sem Karlakórinn Þrestir í Hafnarfirði stóð fyrir. Hann hefur þrisvar verið staðartónskáld á Sumartónleikum í Skálholti þar sem verk hans Cantata og Messa vorra daga voru m.a. frumflutt.
Óliver var þess heiðurs aðnjótandi að semja verk í tilefni af heimsókn Önnu Bretaprinsessu til Íslands í júlí árið 2002. Hann naut jafnframt listamannalauna til sex mánaða sama ár til að vinna að stóru sinfónísku verki. Óliver stjórnar nú Sinfóníuhljómsveit áhugamanna í Reykjavík.
Born in 1954 in London, England, I started my formal music training aged 12 on the cello. Ever since I can remember, I have been creating music, first improvising on an old upright piano later replaced, much to the neighbours” annoyance, by a rather dilapidated grand which had, I remember, a wonderful ringing bass. Hours were spent in experimenting, followed later by more disciplined attempts to notate the results. It is interesting to note that some of these very early ideas have resurfaced in works composed much later. In my middle teens, Saturdays were spent at the Inner London Education Authority Centre for Young Musicians, and school holidays in various London Schools Symphony Orchestras run by the then far-sighted and benevolent ILEA. Advanced studies were at the Royal Academy of Music, London, from 1973-76, where my main study was cello with professor Vivian Joseph. Although never formally studying composition, I had several of my works performed whilst a student at the Royal Academy.
I moved to Iceland in 1977, as co-principal cellist with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and have lived in Iceland since. Married with one daughter and now one beautiful granddaughter. I now live and teach in the Reykjavik area. I have been invited to be “Composer in Residence” at the annual Skálholt Summer Festival of Music on three occasions, with two large-scale works “Cantata for Skálholt” and “A Mass of our Times” receiving their premières there. More recently, concerts of my choral and instrumental works have featured at Skálholt. In the last 15 years, I have gradually devoted more and more of my time to composing and since 1991, I have been a member of the Society of Icelandic Composers. My works are regularly performed and broadcast in Iceland, and most of the Nordic countries, as well as mainland Europe and North America.
To date, my compositions consist of mainly choral music both sacred and secular, songs and chamber works. More recently, I have added a few concertos to my output.
The piece which first brought me to the public”s attention was “Myrkraverk” (1982) scored for woodwinds, brass and percussion. Following its première in Akureyri, North Iceland, it has been widely played, by, amongst others, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, and various groups in Scandinavia and the UK.
Of my commissions, the most important must be that by the British Government, which commissioned a large-scale orchestral work from me to be a gift from the British people to the Icelandic nation on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Icelandic independence in 1994. The resulting work, a setting of an Icelandic text for baritone and orchestra was dedicated to the then President of Iceland, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, and premièred in Reykjavik on September 1994 by the baritone Michael Clarke, conducted by Osmo Vänskä. Another important commission, from John Culver, the then Brish Ambassador to Iceland, was for a short work for performance on the occasion of a visit to Iceland by the Princess Royal, HRH Princess Anne.The resulting work, called rather tongue-in-cheek, “Not Another Fanfare” is a quodlibet using Icelandic and British melodies.
A work to celebrate one thousand years of Christianity in Iceland was awarded a prize in a competition in 2000, for a setting of a text by the former Bishop of Iceland, Dr. Sigurbjörn Einarsson.
The motet “Turn Thee Unto Me” a setting of part of the 25th Psalm, was commissioned by the choir Schola Cantorum Reykjavicensis and has been recorded on their CD, devoted to Icelandic Church music by living composers, “Audi Creator Coeli”, released in December 2001. This CD was nominated as one of the best CDs released in Iceland for the year 2003. Two further CDs featuring my music have been issued in 2005. They are “From my Home Shore to Distant Shores”, music for harpsichord played by Helga Ingólfsdóttir and “Monologues-Dialogues” Icelandic music for bass claritnet performed by Rúnar Óskarsson. Both these CDs have also been nominated for the Icelandic Music Prize in the category ”new music”.