Oli Bott
studied vibraphone and composition at the Berklee College of Music in Boston with teachers such as Gary Burton and Bob Brookmeyer and graduated 'summa cum laude'. Since then freelance musician in Berlin, several scholarships from the Berlin Senate, composition commissions for his own jazz orchestra, radio and television recordings of numerous concerts in Germany and abroad, winner of international competitions such as NDR Music Prize for Jazz Conductors, 1st Prize Leipzig Improvisation Competition, Europ Jazz Contest and Wayne Shorter Award, USA.

Oli loves to interpret good music of all styles and feels comfortable improvising his own stories on works of classical, jazz, rock and world music. Thus his portfolio ranges from the Romanian rock band ZMEI3 to working with cellist Anna Carewe and the Sheridan Ensemble (cross-genre ensemble from baroque and classical to jazz, rock and improvisation) to his jazz quartet with Markus Stockhausen, Oliver Potratz and Eric Schaefer. He has played at festivals such as WOMAD Festival, Electric Castle Festival, Schwetzingen SWR Festival, Schleswig Holstein Music Festival, Niedersächsische Musiktage, Beethovenfest Bonn, WDR Jazz Festival Cologne, Händel Festspiele Halle, Musikfest Stuttgart and Kurt Weill Fest Dessau.

Since 2001 Oli has been teaching improvisation to classically trained musicians in Berlin and gives workshops for the education programme of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berlin University of Popular Arts, the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus and the Landesmusikakademie Berlin.

In 2022, he was commissioned by the German Bundestag to compose a 60-minute homage to Haydn's work to mark the 100th anniversary of Germany's anthem, which he produced with Anna Carewe, Markus Stockhausen, Oliver Potratz and Eric Schaefer ...