Biography

Olivia was born in 1975 and studied at Chetham’s School of Music, the Royal Northern College of Music and the Royal College of Music. She has won numerous international singing competitions and awards including winning the Dame Eva Turner Singing Competition, the Miriam Licette Award, the Elsie Turner Prize, 2nd Prize in the Frederic Cox Singing Competition and winning the prestigious Wingate Award. 

She was selected as the UK representative to compete in the finals of both the Hans Gabor Belvedere International Singing Competition in Vienna and the Llangollen International Young Singer of the World Competition.

Olivia was also honoured to be awarded scholarships from the Peter Moores Foundation, the Countess of Munster Trust, the Ian Fleming Trust, the Sybil Tutton Trust, the Wingate Foundation, the Royal Northern College of Music and the Royal College of Music to assist her in her operatic training and development.

TV, Radio & Film

Olivia regularly features on TV and radio including a Radio 3 broadcast of Handel's Messiah with the Halle Orchestra at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester; an ITV broadcast of Tippett’s Child of our Time with Robert Tear, Kokoro Ensemble and the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus to celebrate their 90th anniversary; a live Radio 3 broadcast of the world premiere of Kaija Saariaho's Chateau de L’ame with Kent Negano conducting the Halle Orchestra at the Bridgewater Hall and a televised masterclass with Sir Thomas Allen.

Olivia was recently invited to be the opera advisor for the international smash hit film Quartet (starring Dame Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly and directed by Dustin Hoffman) which tells the story of retired opera singers growing old disgracefully and features the who's who of British actors.

Operatic Experience

Her internationally acclaimed operatic roles include Fiordiligi (Così Fan Tutte) in Aix-en-Provence, Edinburgh Festival, Brighton Festival, Scottish Opera and British Youth Opera; Violetta (La Traviata); Tosca (Tosca); Mimi (La Bohème) with the Hallé Orchestra; Contessa (Le Nozze di Figaro) at Kazan Opera House in Russia, Europe and the UK; Mila (Osud) in the European premiere at Garsington Opera; Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus); Female Narrator (The Rape of Lucretia) in the RNCM’s multi-award winning production; and Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Opera Holland Park Festival, Longborough Festival Opera and throughout the UK.

Concert Experience

Her concert experience includes Mozart’s Requiem with Brian Kay conducting the Manchester Camerata; Beethoven’s 9th Symphony (Choral); Dvořák’s Stabat Mater; Verdi's Requiem; Elgar’s The Apostles at Oxford’s Sheldonian Theatre; Dvořák’s Te Deum at Durham Cathedral; Rossini’s Petite Messe Solenelle and Stabat Mater; Beethoven’s Misa Solemnis with the Highgate Choral Society (part of the Highgate and Hampstead Festival); soprano soloist at the Aix en Provence Festival opera gala and numerous international concerts and opera galas.

Olivia was honoured to have been invited as the Guest Soloist at Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s Last Night of the Proms at both the Bournemouth International Centre and the Brighton Centre; and critically acclaimed for her performance of Beethoven’s notoriously difficult concert aria Ah! Perfido conducted by Vassily Sinaisky.

Olivia is also a regular on the recital platform and made both her South Bank and Wigmore Hall recital debuts to much acclaim as well as highly successful international recital debuts in Canada and the U.S.A.

Other Activities

Never one to keep still, Olivia is in high demand on the lecture circuit as a presenter and guest speaker giving lectures, seminars and after-dinner speeches on a wide variety of topics including The History of Opera, Motivation, Understanding Body Language, PR & Marketing and The Art of Giving a Presentation.

In her spare time, Olivia is passionate about sharing her extensive knowledge and experience. She is regularly invited to give public masterclasses and is also a singing teacher and vocal coach to a number of personally selected professional singers in the opera, musical theatre and pop music genres, where she works with them on core technical elements (e.g. vocal technique, breathing and support) but also exploring musical and dramatic interpretation, performance skills, marketing, management and career development.

Olivia lives in Bournemouth with her husband, 13 year old daughter and her West Highland Terrier dog called Figaro!