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 | | |  | | R. Neil Olmstead |
| | | R. Neil Olmstead was born in Paris in 1953 and grew up in Massachusetts. He began studying piano at the age of six and in his teens developed a love of jazz. His earliest efforts at composition were short jazz pieces influenced by Bill Evans and Thelonius Monk. His formal training took place at Boston Conservatory, Berklee College of Music, and at New England Conservatory, where he earned a Master of Music degree with honors. Olmstead studied composition with Hugo Norden at Boston University and with Nadia Boulanger at the Ecole d’Art Americaines in Fountainebleau, France.
In addition to composing chamber music and orchestral works, Olmstead has also continued to be active as a jazz musician. He has performed with Jimmy Guiffre, and has had a ten-year residency at the Copley Plaza Hotel, where he has opened for Teddy Wilson, Dave McKenna, and Adam Makowicz. Olmstead also teaches clinics throughout the United States and Europe, including at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia, Italy. He is presently an Associate Professor of Music at Berklee College of Music in Boston. |
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