Stephen Oliver

Stephen Oliver (1950 – 1992) was an English composer, best known for his operas.

Oliver was educated at Ardingly College and subsequently read music at Worcester College, Oxford, where he was taught by Kenneth Leighton and Robert Sherlaw Johnson. His first opera, The Duchess of Malfi (1971), was staged while he was still at Oxford. Later works include incidental music for the Royal Shakespeare Company, a musical, Blondel (1983; with Tim Rice), and over forty operas, including Tom Jones (1975), Beauty and the Beast (1984) and Timon of Athens (1991). Oliver also wrote music for television, and some chamber and instrumental music.

He also composed the score for the thirteen-hour radio dramatization of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1981. The work combined a main theme with many sub-themes, all composed within the English pastoral tradition.

Oliver was a frequent guest on BBC Radio 4's light discussion programme Stop the Week. He died of AIDS-related complications on April 29, 1992.

References

• Holden, Amanda; Alan Blyth (1993). The Viking opera guide. New York: Viking. ISBN 0-670-81292-7. 

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