Oliver Sears was born in London to parents Monika and Ronald Sears and he has two older brothers, Ian and Paul.

His parents were both Polish Jews and their family’s survival of the Holocaust left its mark on Oliver and his brothers.

Oliver began his career when he opened an art gallery in Kinsale in the 1980s. He moved to Dublin in 2000 where he flourished as an art dealer culminating in the opening of a new gallery on Molesworth Street, just up from the Dáil.

He is passionate about contemporary art and classical music and next week opens a very special exhibition by the Belfast painter Colin Davidson, called Jerusalem. 

He’s married to Katherine Punch and they live in Dublin.

Listen back to Oliver Sears' musical heirlooms through the player below, or download the podcast by searching for 'Musical Heirlooms' on your podcast app.

The music he selected was Beethoven’s 4th Piano Concerto played by Emil Gilels, a Russian Jew who is thought to be one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century. The recording is available on iTunes and Gilels own story, which included entertaining Soviet troops during the war, is fascinating too and worth reading up on.

Following on from Oliver’s family history he has collaborated with the Belfast portrait artist Colin Davidson to create an intriguing and exciting exhibition at his gallery on Molesworth Street which opens on Thursday.

They went to Israel in January where Davidson painted 12 people from different sides of the divide in Jerusalem. But when you see the collection, you don’t know who’s who, so it’s a fantastic challenge as we’re invited to look at the subjects as people without knowing which side they’re on. You can read more about the project in The Sunday Times Culture Magazine tomorrow in a piece by John O’Sullivan.

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