Soprano Olivia Boen is quickly gaining momentum for the “sun-streaked top of her register” (Chicago Tribune) and “full-bodied, sparkling tone” (Cleveland Classical) on operatic, concert, and recital stages alike.
In her first year in the Opernstudio at the Staatsoper Hamburg, Olivia made role debuts as Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, Musetta in La bohème, and Anna in Nabucco, among others. In the 2023-24 season, she looks forward to returning to Musetta, in addition to creating the roles of Xenia in Frank Castorf’s new production of Boris Godunov and Inez in Annilese Miskimmon’s new Il Trovatore. She will also be performing as First Niece in Peter Grimes, Une Voix Céleste in Don Carlos, Giannetta in L’elisir d’amore, and Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro. In Hamburg, she has collaborated with such conductors including Kent Nagano, Mark Wigglesworth, Giampaolo Bisanti, and Paolo Arrivabeni. Further ahead, Olivia will make a house and role debut at the Opéra national de Paris.
Notable concert appearances include Beethoven’s Ah, Perfido! with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Cadogan Hall and Dvorak’s Stabat Mater with the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago’s Millennium Park. In 2021, she sang her first Four Last Songs with the London Schools Symphony Orchestra in Barbican Hall. Olivia looks forward to making her debut at the Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie as the title role in Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri in June 2024.
An avid lover of art song, Olivia has toured with the Oxford International Song Festival, and has also given recitals at Wigmore Hall, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, the London Song Festival, Opera Holland Park, the Verbier Festival, the LSO at St. Luke’s, the Dame Myra Hess Recital Series, and the Ravinia Festival. Equally committed to new music, she has worked closely with Judith Weir on several of her song cycles and received an award for her performances of music by Thomas Adès.
During her four years based in London, she collaborated on outreach projects with the London Symphony Orchestra and Opera Holland Park. She was a member of the Wigmore Hall French Song Exchange led by Dame Felicity Lott and François le Roux, is a Samling Artist, and completed additional training at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Verbier Festival, Internationale Meistersinger Akademie, and the Ravinia Steans Music Institute. She received her undergraduate degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and her postgraduate degrees from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Raised in a deeply musical family, Olivia was trained first as a violinist and pianist, but was frequently caught singing in lieu of playing during her instrumental practice time.
