Olivier Glissant

Composer / Conductor

Olivier Glissant is a caribbean composer, conductor, producer and founder of Blacksalt Records, an independent label focusing on music from the Americas. In 2016 he created the Brooklyn Orchestra, a symphonic ensemble dedicated to new music and contemporary composers, working to fuse kinds of music that rarely meet on the classical stage. His influences are many, including South American, Caribbean and African music, as well as European classical music. As a producer and performer he has collaborated with a broad range of artists such as Philip Glass, Norah Jones, Bill Frisell, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Guinga, Vinicius Cantuaria, Pete Seeger, John Zorn, Tico da Costa, Thiago Thiago de Mello, Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Yasmin Levy, Yannick Lebrun and Simone Dinnerstein.

He conducted his own creations with the Brooklyn Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, the United Nations in New York, the Pantheon in Paris, and in Brooklyn. He also created several premieres from other composers such as the world premiere of his symphonic arrangement of Aguas da Amazonia by Philip Glass, the world premiere of his Brazilian Suite based on the music of Guinga, and the New York premiere of Philip Glass's Symphony No. 14 and Piano Concerto No. 1.

Olivier also believes in community outreach and education: he created Symphonic Sundays, a series where children can be exposed to the orchestral experience, from learning about individual instruments to witnessing the rehearsal process and even conducting the orchestra in order to understand the collaborative process between musicians of an ensemble. He is now preparing the production of his first opera, Six Scenes from Paradise, in collaboration with librettist and opera director Markus Kupferblum.