Marcus Vinícius de Oliveira

Born in Brazil, Marcus began learning the double bass at the age of 15 and moved to Manchester in 2018 to study at the Royal Northern College of Music with the renowned double bassist Jiří Hudec, where he graduated with First Class with Honours, becoming one of the most promising double bassists in classical music over the last few years.

Member of the Grammy Award’s Latin Recording Academy, Marcus has been awarded several prizes during his career. In 2017, Marcus was awarded the VI Ernâni de Almeida Machado Meyer prize by the São Paulo State Youth Symphony Orchestra as their “Young Musician of the Year”. In 2020, he was a prizewinner in the DoContra International Double Bass Competition and in 2021 he was awarded the Thomas Jellis  Bequest Award. More recent achievements include the ABRSM Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Award, the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation’s Tuition Assistance Scholarship Award and the RNCM Concerto Competition, for which he is the first Latin-American double bass prizewinner in the competition’s history.

Since 2021, Marcus has been collaborating with several professional orchestras in the UK and abroad including the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also member of Sinfonia Cymru and Chineke! Orchestra. In 2022, Marcus was the first Brazilian musician to complete the “Professional Experience Scheme” with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and, earlier this year, Marcus also became the first Brazilian double bassist to perform a concerto with the BBC Philharmonic, making his professional debut as a soloist in the UK performing the British premiere of Andrés Martin’s Double Bass Concerto No. 1, in a concert that also marked 23 years since the orchestra’s last performance of a double bass concerto.

His current aspirations include seeking out more opportunities to perform as a soloist with professional orchestras, and to give further solo recitals across the globe, with a particular desire to bring Brazilian music to a wider audience. Marcus is very excited to be working with Manchester Camerata over the coming year as part of their first cohort of 360° Ruth Sutton Fellows.