I Oliver Wirtz was born in Nienburg an der Weser in 1964. He discovered a passion for the big stage at a young age. At 15, Oliver Wirtz took up dancesport, winning several championship titles over the following years.
Oliver Wirtz left school in 1985 after completing his ‘A’ Levels. During the following two years, he completed his military service in the German army. This period of his life shaped him more than any other: Oliver Wirtz became a reserve officer and tank commander, serving in Germany, Wales and Canada. Oliver Wirtz learned to assume responsibility and manage people at an early stage.
Oliver Wirtz moved to the United States to continue his education and began a marketing degree in Arizona. He joined the cultural and educational organisation, Up With People, which is primarily famous for its captivating music shows featuring artists from 20 countries. Between 1987 and 1989, Oliver Wirtz took part in 100 events around the world, assisting Up With People as a Promotion Coordinator in his native Germany.
Oliver Wirtz returned to Germany in 1989 and began working as a trainee at the VOK DAMS Events & Live Marketing agency in Wuppertal. He was soon promoted to Project Manager. In 1991, Oliver Wirtz was headhunted by British American Tobacco and appointed Management Consultant at BAT in Hamburg, where he developed an international leadership network that still exists today. In 1994, Oliver Wirtz set up his own management and event consultancy business. His first customers included his previous employers, VOK DAMS Events & Live Marketing and British American Tobacco, followed by companies such as Deutsche Telekom, Bacardi, Mercedes-Benz, Philips and Stella Entertainment.
Oliver Wirtz designs events and galas with up to 10,000 spectators. To enhance his profile, Oliver Wirtz also attends numerous international management and controlling seminars and training courses.
His professional activities finally culminated in a momentous decision at the end of 1996, which was to become the basis of his current success. Oliver Wirtz founded his own company, Sundance Art & Entertainment GmbH. This was soon followed by Oliver Wirtz’s second agency, SUNDANCE Music GmbH, allowing Oliver Wirtz to take care of artists’ interests for the first time. As Executive Producer, Oliver Wirtz created the 70th Musical, Freak Out, which was performed at German and international theatres in subsequent years, with great success.
Over the following years, Oliver Wirtz specialised in the development of drama-based concepts for product and brand experiences, such as the development of the presentation concept for The Golden Steering Wheel award ceremony, communication campaigns and PR, as well as online strategies for Arcor, Talkline, Deutsche Telekom, Olympus, Weight Watchers, BMW, Audi, Nivea, Lindt, CeBit, Hannover Messe and many other firms. And his success proved that he was right. Over the years, SUNDANCE Music GmbH evolved into SUNDANCE Communications GmbH.
Oliver Wirtz’s boutique agency, SUNDANCE Communications, consistently takes care of artists’ interests and shapes these into sustainably successful personal brands. His agency therefore sets itself apart from all its competitors in terms of quality and content and has also become the benchmark in its market.
Its expansion into an artist agency was initiated in 2006 by Tim Mälzer, who asked Oliver Wirtz to take over his management. 11 staff now work for the agency, which, as well as Tim Mälzer, also looks after other artists, such as Jorge González, Sasha, Alexander Herrmann, Thomas Hayo, Jan Hofer, etc. For his work, Oliver Wirtz was presented with the LEA Live Entertainment Award as Artist Management of the Year 2011. Oliver Wirtz lives in Hamburg. I