Manchester-born Oliver Pooley began playing drum kit aged 8, and by 14 he had moved onto orchestral percussion. His passion and dedication for the instrument lead to successful auditions with the Halle Youth Orchestra, and later, the National Youth Orchestra. He has subsequently performed at many of the country’s top concert halls (Royal Festival Hall, London; Symphony Hall, Birmingham; Bridgewater Hall, Manchester) with some of the world’s leading conductors (including Semyon Bychkov, Kristjan Jarvi, Vladimir Jurowski and Vasily Petrenko), including three televised BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, and numerous BBC Radio broadcasts. He now plays in the University of London Symphony Orchestra and is looking forward to playing a huge variety of repertoire in the coming year, including a recording of Bartok's "Bluebeard's Castle" in December.

In 2009, he commenced studies at Chetham’s School of Music. His time there offered oppurtunites to perform with the Halle Orchestra and Gabrieli Consort, and as a result of winning the school’s prestigious Concerto Competition, he performed Ney Rosauro’s 1st Concerto for Marimba in Chester Cathedral and at the RNCM. He has also had considerable competition success outside school, winning a place on the LSO St. Luke’s Academy for Timpani and Percussion, and the Category Finals of BBC Young Musician of the Year 2010.

Oliver has a keen interest in chamber music, having performed with Piano, Saxophone and Flute, and has recently started a percussion duo called “Tu-O,” exploring a range of contemporary repertoire, as well as working on their own arrangements and compositions. As a soloist, he has given recitals at Leeds College of Music (as part of the Leeds Lunchtime Chamber Music Series), The Savoy Hotel and The Saddleworth Festival, as well as many performances in Chetham’s. His passion lies with contemporary repertoire, but he also enjoys playing arrangements of Baroque and Classical pieces.

On Drum Kit, he has played with various jazz groups, as well as his band Sneaky Pablo, for whom he was the main songwriter, who played many local gigs around Manchester, including headlining the "In The City" festival. They also recorded a 3-song demo for which they received a 4 star review in an international music magazine, being called "epic, enchanting and emotional."

Aside from performing, Oliver enjoys composing, and has composed numerous works for a variety of ensembles - most notably "Kaleidoscope" for Chamber Orchestra, which was performed at St. John's, Smith Square, and "Ascent" and "Still," two pieces written for unaccompanied Tuned Percussion. He has also arranged a number of works for Percussion, such as "Sarabande" (from "Pour le Piano" by Claude Debussy) for Solo Marimba, and "Oblivion" (Astor Piazzolla) for Soprano Saxophone and Marimba.

Oliver holds two diplomas. The first is in Music Theory (AMusTCL), awarded by the Trinity College of Music, in which he acheived a Merit. The second is a Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music for performance, in which he achieved a Distinction.

Oliver now holds a full scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music, where he studies with, amongst others, Neil Percy, Simon Carrington and Colin Currie.