Biography

Oscar Alblas was born in 1985 and started his musical career at an early age - at first playing cardboard boxes and toy tambourines, but soon playing every single hit-able instrument around (and more). He joined the 'big' orchestra of the local wind band in his home town Waddinxveen at the age of 9, where he learned how to read music and play in a group, and basically undertook his first 'multi percussion' steps by often playing three or four different percussion parts at the same time.

After having taken private lessons with various teachers from the age of 11, he was admitted to the classical percussion department of the Rotterdam Conservatory (part of the Codarts University for Professional Arts Education) in 2005, where he studied with a.o. Richard Jansen, Chris Leenders, Hans Leenders, Mike Schäperclaus and Danny van de Wal, and received extra lessons in drums (from Bob Langenberg) and African percussion (from Murk Jiskoot). Beside his regular conservatory program, Oscar has taken masterclasses with, among others, Colin Currie, Evelyn Glennie and Steve Reich, and completed a two-year course Orchestra direction (teachers: Hans Leenders and Jan Stulen) in 2008. After obtaining his bachelor degree in 2010, Oscar moved on to do a master course (also at Codarts), focusing on electronic percussion.

Almost directly from the start of his conservatory years, Oscar started to perform and record with many totally different orchestras and ensembles, including the National Youth Orchestra of The Netherlands, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra,  the Metropole Orchestra, the Marine Band of the Royal Netherlands Navy, 'contemporary gamelan ensemble' Gending, and dance company Conny Janssen Danst. Oscar is a member of the Rotterdam Ensemble and the Magnum Opus Rockestra, and regularly performs in music theatre productions; a.o. with singer/actress Nicoline van Doorn, and students and teachers at the Codarts Music Theatre Academy. Also, during the  season 2010-2011, Oscar played drums and percussion in the musical "Kruimeltje" (based on the famous book by Chris van Abkoude). Among others, 2011-2012 will bring collaborations with the theatre companies "Theater de Plaats", "Hollands Diep" and the "Onafhankelijk Toneel".
More information on (some of) these and other works can be found on the Projects page on this website.

Over the past years, Oscar has worked with many widely appreciated musicians, including the conductors Arie van Beek, Peter Eötvös, Reinbert de Leeuw, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin; and contemporary composers such as George Benjamin, Corrie van Binsbergen, Chou Wen-chung, Daniel Cross, Karl Fiorini, Florian Magnus Maier, and Steve Reich. Further more, he has performed with numerous soloists, including pianist Ralph van Raat, blues/rock guitar legend Snowy White, jazz guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, bansuri player Hariprasad Chaurasia, cabaret artist Brigitte Kaandorp, and singers such as the classical sopranos Roberta Alexander and Tania Kross, jazz and avant-garde singer Kristina Fuchs, and longtime Toto vocalist Bobby Kimball. 

Further more, Oscar is an in demand percussion teacher for over 10 years now.