Oscar Perks Violin

Oscar’s performing life includes a wide variety of solo, chamber music and orchestral playing. He began his musical education at the Yehudi Menuhin School and later went on to read music at Cambridge University (where he also studied composition with Robin Holloway) before completing his master’s at the Royal College of Music.

Oscar has given solo performances at many leading venues such as the Wigmore Hall, Barbican, Royal Festival Hall and Kings Place, and has performed live on BBC Radio Three. Oscar’s recent performance of the Britten violin concerto with the Outcry Orchestra at St John’s Smith Square was met with much acclaim.

For five years he was a member of the Dante String Quartet with whom he gave concerts around the UK and abroad. As well as having the chance to explore one of the greatest repertoires in existence, some of the most memorable moments were the Quartet’s performances of the complete Beethoven and Shostakovich Quartet cycles, and recordings of all eight string quartets by C.V. Stanford, many of which were previously unpublished and unrecorded. Oscar co-founded the Perks Ensemble along with his violist brother Elliott, a flexible chamber group who are dedicated to performing music for unusual instrumental combinations.

After studying as both a composer and violinist in his youth, Oscar settled on becoming a performer but retained a strong interest in writing music. This often extends to creating his own arrangements and performing his own Cadenzas in concertos, but he has also not ruled out a more serious return to composition one day!

He was recently appointed Co-leader of the Welsh National Opera orchestra and has led many of the UK’s professional Orchestras.