Cellist Oliver Bennett Schlaffer joined Timeless Concerts again in 2021, after having performed with Timeless earlier in its development. Having pursued performance work, Oliver has now created a business that not only involves teaching cello lessons, but coaching other teachers of music instruments in teaching techniques, and other forms of mentoring that help aspiring artists gain success in the performing arts and beyond, using simple strategies for mastery. His website is oliverandcello.com.
An expert in teaching the science of achievement through the study of excellence in the performing arts, Oliver helps ambitious young people transform their unique gifts and vision into extraordinary achievement and mastery, through his lessons on life, leadership, and excellence. As a mentor to youth, Oliver’s students learn the true skills for achievement and mastery, consistently ranking within the top 1% of students in the state of Texas for music as well as the top 10% academically, and are regularly accepted into many of the nation’s top learning institutions such as Harvard, Stanford, and MIT.
From conformity to Carnegie Hall, Oliver discovered that the journey to mastery in the performing arts reveals the true secrets of living a purposeful life through passion and excellence, which often requires one to become a “non-conformist” in order to be truly exceptional.
He has performed in over a dozen orchestras across the United States, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and on stages around the United States, Europe, and Asia, including seven appearances at Carnegie Hall in New York City. A versatile performer, he has collaborated with a variety of genres and mainstream artists including live concerts with Josh Groban and Andrea Bocelli, in addition to nationally televised appearances with rappers P. Diddy and Snoop Dogg on MTV’s Video Music Awards.
Oliver was honored with a distinguished award in 2017 from the National Academy of Bestselling Authors for his contribution to the recently published book, Mastering the Art of Success, which he co-authored with the legendary New York Times best-selling author Jack Canfield. A champion for excellence, Oliver has captured the imagination of over fifty-thousand students through his live presentations. On a mission to inspire and empower the next generation to master their passions in order to design a life true to themselves.
Oliver holds degrees in cello performance from Southern Methodist University and Northwestern University, and he has studied under the principal cellists of seven major symphony orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Several of his primary teachers include Orlando Cole of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Japanese cello soloist Ko Iwasaki, and Danish cello pedagogue Hans Jørgen Jensen, who was highlighted in the book, The Talent Code, by Daniel Coyle in 2009.
This talented artist was born in New York, NY, and raised in Dallas. TX. He and his wife, harpist Yumiko Endo Schlaffer, live in Plano,TX, with their young son.