His extensive experience on stage and in theatre has gained national industry recognition with consecutive Musical Director Recognition Awards from the Black British Theatre Awards in 2020 and 2021. His recent credits as a musical director include the Curve and Birmingham Hippodrome production ‘The Color Purple’, new British musical ‘From Here’ (Chiswick Playhouse) and a London workshop for the musical ‘Mandela’ (written by Greg Dean Borowsky / Shaun Borowsky / Laiona Michelle). He has also been the musical director for several workshops of shows in development with London’s Park Theatre. Ian’s creativity as a composer and arranger are indispensable assets in the development of new stage productions such as the stage adaptation of Baroness Floella Benjamin’s bestselling book ‘Coming to England’ which had its world premiere at The Birmingham Rep in April 2022, and the 2019 UK Tour of ‘Respect: The Aretha Franklin Songbook’, starring the likes of Amber Riley, Mica Paris and Jaki Graham.

Ian started playing the piano by ear at the tender age of four, his first song being ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ in the very lowest register of the piano. Since then, having completed grade exams with Trinity College of Music, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Theory & Composition from Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego, California where he studied with prolific American composer, Phillip Keveren (Hal Leonard Publishing) and has written a full-length children’s musical ‘One More Chance: The Story of Jonah’ which premiered before a standing-room-only audience in San Diego’s Crill Auditorium.

Throughout the course of his career, Ian has travelled and performed in more than sixty countries on five continents as a pianist, composer, orchestrator, conductor and musical director. Through such experiences, he has acquired a unique multi-cultural perspective which is reflected in his credits across the musical genres including classical, gospel, jazz and hip-hop, highlighted by his string arrangement for Stormzy’s 2017 performance of ‘Blinded by Your Grace Pt. 2’ on the X-Factor, and his orchestration for UK rapper Nines’ track “Highly Blessed, featuring Skrapz and Wretch 32” from his 2023 album ‘Crop Circle 2’ which has been certified silver.

In 2019, Ian worked as the orchestrator on the beautifully crafted, evocative score of British film composer, Christopher Barnett, for the movie ‘A Dose of Happiness’. The award-winning movie, directed by Yana Titova, was the number one Bulgarian production in 2019, winning numerous awards. Ian was also the orchestrator and pianist on the song ‘Times Like These’ by Charlie Hines Produced by Tim Miner in the film ‘The Christmas Masterpiece’ which received an honourable mention for best song in the 2020 Los Angeles Film awards.

Ian is the musical supervisor, arranger and orchestrator for the upcoming ‘I’m Every Woman: The Chaka Khan Musical’, where he is working with Chaka Khan as a member of the creative process. Recently, Ian was also the musical supervisor and orchestrator for the critically acclaimed and multi award-nominated production of The Big Life at Theatre Royal Stratford East.

Ian has worked as a guest practitioner with StageBox UK, Mountview Academy, The London School of Musical Theatre and also is a mentor with the Royal Academy of Music.

www.IanOakley.com