Oli Bott studied vibraphone
and composition at the Berklee College of Music in Boston with teachers
such as Gary Burton and Bob Brookmeyer, graduating 'summa cum laude'.
After completing his studies, he moved to Berlin where he now works
as a freelance vibraphonist and composer. The Arts Council of Berlin
has been a regular supporter, awarding him both scholarships as
a vibraphonist and commissions as a composer for his own jazz orchestra,
which he also conducts. Oli Bott has been awarded many prizes, including
the 'NDR-Musikpreis' for bigband conductors, 1st prize at the Leipzig
Improvisation Competition and the Wayne Shorter Award, USA. His
concerts throughout Europe have been broadcast by TV and radio.
Oli loves to interpret good music of all styles and feels comfortable
improvising his own stories on works of classical, jazz, rock and
world music. His portfolio thus ranges from the Romanian rock band
ZMEI3 to the collaboration with cellist Anna Carewe and the Sheridan
Ensemble (cross-genre ensemble from baroque and classical to jazz,
rock and improvisation) to his jazz quartet with Markus Stockhausen,
Oliver Potratz and Eric Schaefer. He played at festivals like WOMAD
Festival, Electric Castle Festival, Schwetzinger SWR Festspiele,
Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival, Niedersächsische Musiktage,
Beethovenfest Bonn, WDR Jazz Festival Köln, Händel Festspiele
Halle, Musikfest Stuttgart und Kurt Weill Fest Dessau.
Since 2001 Oli has been teaching improvisation to classically trained
musicians in Berlin and gives workshops for the education programme
of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berlin University of Popular
Arts, the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus and the Landesmusikakademie
Berlin.
In 2022, he was commissioned by the German Bundestag to compose
a 60-minute homage to Haydn's work to mark the 100th anniversary
of Germany's anthem, which he produced with Anna Carewe, Markus
Stockhausen, Oliver Potratz and Eric Schaefer and which is published
on www.dasdeutschlandlied.de.
www.olibott.com
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