Oliver Walker is the Director of Music at Repton School and Musical Director of the Solihull Choral Society, roles he combines with a freelance career as a choral conductor and organist which has taken him around the world. Oliver studied Music at Keble College, Oxford, where he was also an Organ Scholar, and has also held scholarships at Wells, Gloucester and Chelmsford Cathedrals.
At Repton, Oliver is responsible for the strategic direction of one of the UK’s leading independent school music departments and works with an outstanding team of music staff to deliver a vibrant programme of music. He directs Repton’s Chapel Choir in their ambitious programme of services, tours and concerts. In 2022-2023 the Chapel Choir will sing Evensong in St Paul’s Cathedral for a fifth consecutive year as well as undertaking a tour to Rome during which they will sing at St Peter’s Basilica and St Paul-Outside-The-Walls. Through his work at Repton, Oliver frequently works as an adjudicator and regularly delivers workshops to schools throughout the country. As a passionate teacher, Oliver has until recently sat on the committee of the Music Teachers’ Association.
From 2010-2016 Oliver was the Head of Choral Music at Solihull School. Under his direction the choir gave concert tours in Normandy and Norway (including a performance of Britten’s War Requiem with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra) and twice performed with Gary Barlow in the LG arena. In 2011 he founded the choral outreach programme ‘Solihull Sings!’ which has since impacted on over 1200 children. In 2012 he was awarded a Civic Honours Award for his contribution to music making in Solihull.
Above all else, Oliver enjoys working with singers of all ages and abilities. Memorable projects have included directing Vivaldi’s Gloria with 250 singers in Beverley Minster, assisting Simon Halsey and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group’s premiere of David Lang’s Crowd Out with 1000 amateur singers, and working for eleven years on the Eton Choral Courses based throughout the UK and in YK Pao School, Shanghai.
As Musical Director of the thriving Solihull Choral Society, Oliver has directed a broad range of concert repertoire from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Britten’s cantata St Nicolas and Brahms’ German Requiemthrough to John Rutter’s Magnificat. In 2018 the choir performed a Concert of Remembrance celebrating the music of Vaughan Williams, including The Lark Ascending, Dona Nobis Pacem and Five Mystical Songs. Through SCS, Oliver enjoys a fruitful relationship with Sinfonia of Birmingham and composer Alexander L’Estrange who composed the Christmas Carol The Story of Light which the choir premiered in 2021.