Born in 1971 in Zurich, Oliver Waespi studied composition and conducting at the Musikhochschule Zurich and pursued his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London. His tutors included Simon Bainbridge, Gerald Bennett, Sylvia Caduff, Peter Maxwell Davies, Brian Elias, Klaus Huber, Andreas Nick and Alfred Reed.

His music has been performed in many European countries, in Australia, China, Japan, Singapur and the USA and was featured at various festivals and in concert series such as the George Enescu Festival, the BBC "Hear and Now"-series, the Gulbenkian concert season, the Lucerne “Szenenwechsel” Festival, the Schweizerisches Tonkünstlerfest, MidEurope-Festivals or WASBE World Conferences. Performers of his music include world-renowned symphony orchestras and chamber ensembles, soloists, choirs and many illustrious wind ensembles and brass bands. Recently, Waespi's music was performed by the Kymi Sinfonietta with Petri Kumela and Auli Kontinen, the Ensemble TaG, the Neues Zürcher Orchester, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, the Brodsky Quartet, the BBC-Singers, the Berne Chamber Orchestra, the Iasi Philharmonic, the Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz with Olivier Darbellay, the Swiss Brass Consort, the YBS Band, both the Stadtmusik and the Brass Band Bürgermusik Luzern, the BBO, the Sinfonisches Blasorchester Bern or the Osaka Municipal Symphonic Band.

Within the circle of interpreters it is clear that Oliver Waespi maintains a wide and diversified interest in music. Besides composing, he is active as a clinician and teaches at the Hochschule der Künste Bern. He received a prize in Corciano in 1999, the International George Enescu-Composition Prize for Symphonic Music in 2003, was awarded a fellowship in London sponsored by the Landis and Gyr Cultural Foundation in Zug in 2005/2006 and earned a prize at the 2009 Uuno Klami-Composing Competition in Finland.