Philippe Olivier, historian of culture and music

Born in 1952 and holding a doctorate in contemporary history from the University of Strasbourg, the Franco-Austrian historian Philippe Olivier is the author of some thirty books, mostly devoted to German and Austrian music. His specialities are Richard Wagner and the fate of composers and performers persecuted under Nazism. In the latter field, he has been an associate researcher since 2005 at the Forum Voix Étouffées (FVE), founded by the late Amaury du Closel (1956–2024).

His books La musique au quotidien and L’Anneau du Nibelung à Bayreuth des débuts à aujourd’hui were prefaced respectively by Pierre Boulez and the late Wolfgang Wagner. Toccata, Bermuda, Corona – a book by Philippe Olivier and Simon Ghraichy – was prefaced in 2021 by former French President François Hollande. Philippe Olivier writes for the Berlin Philharmonic’s magazine, the Vienna Philharmonic’s Musikblätter, Perspectives (the French-language journal of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem) and the weekly K., l’Europe, le 21ème siècle.

Several of his books were published with the support of the Centre national du Livre, the ARIF Foundation in New York, the Artur Schnabel Music Foundation in Stamford, Connecticut, and the Akademie der Künste in Berlin.

Philippe Olivier translated the autobiography of the great pianist Artur Schnabel into French for Éditions Hermann (Paris). He had previously translated into French books on Herbert von Karajan and by Paul Badura-Skoda and Mauricio Kagel, as well as the libretto of Richard Strauss’s Daphne.

Philippe Olivier has given lectures and classes in Japan, the United States, Slovenia (University of Ljubljana), Austria (Arnold Schönberg Center and University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna), the United Kingdom (University of London), Lithuania (universities of Kaunas and Vilnius), Poland, Finland (Sibelius Academy, Helsinki), Switzerland (Grand Théâtre de Genève and Zurich Opera House), Germany (University of Rostock, University of Mainz, Bayreuth Festival, Akademie der Künste and Deutsche Oper Berlin), Greece (University of Athens) and Israel (Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University).

Based in Berlin, Philippe Olivier is a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur, a Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite, an Officier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and holder of the Gold Medal of Honour of the Republic of Austria with the rank of officer. He was made an honorary citizen of the City of Bayreuth in 2008.

Philippe Olivier was a senior civil servant from 1986 to 2013, serving notably in the private office of Catherine Trautmann when she was a government minister and Mayor of Strasbourg.

Languages used for lectures, workshops, symposiums and conventions: French, German, English, Spanish.

Philippe Olivier has decades of experience giving talks and taking part in debates and round tables.