Oliver Webber has been immersed in the world of historical violins and their relatives since the early 1990s. A passionate advocate for bringing research and performance together, his work in the field of string-making has been transformative, inspiring individuals and ensembles worldwide, and his study of historical bow-holds has played a role in several important recordings, including Gabrieli’s award-winning readings of Purcell in 2019. For the Taverner Consort’s recording of L’Orfeo in 2012, Oliver was invited to lead the string band, collaborating closely with Andrew Parrott on modelling every aspect of Monteverdi’s own string band, including the elusive violini piccoli alla francese.

Oliver is a professor of baroque violin and viola at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. He was appointed a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2020, and used the absence of performing work to develop new teaching methods drawing on his passion for ornamentation: he now teaches courses on ornamentation for singers and instrumentalists at the Guildhall School, and his 2021 Resonus Classics recording of early Italian ornamentation, Con Arte e Maestria, was described as ‘dazzling yet intelligent’ (Planet Hugill). Oliver’s fascination for languages and the intermingling of art forms in the early seventeenth century has proved a rich vein of inspiration for MSB’s programming.