Mary Oliver (born in La Jolla, California) is an American performer on violin, viola, and Hardanger fiddle, in the areas of New Music, free improvisation, and avant-garde jazz.
[1][4] Oliver studied for her Master of Fine Arts in violin and viola at San Francisco State University and at Mills College.
[1][2][4] As a soloist she performs as much composed as improvised music, giving first performances of works by, for example, Richard Barrett, John Cage, Chaya Czernowin, Morton Feldman, Brian Ferneyhough, Liza Lim, George E. Lewis and Richard Teitelbaum.
[4][5] She has performed with, among others, Ab Baars, Sean Bergin, Tobias Delius, Scott Fields, Ig Henneman, Tristan Honsinger, Achim Kaufmann, Joëlle Léandre, Thomas Lehn, George E. Lewis, Misha Mengelberg, Phil Minton, Michael Moore and Evan Parker.
[2] To quote the Austin Music Co-op website, "Her premieres of new works by John Cage, Richard Barrett, Brian Ferneyhough, and Iannis Xenakis speak to the level of virtuosity she has achieved.