Biography

Olivia Warburton is increasingly recognised as a captivating performer and versatile young artist on opera stages and in concert halls across the world. Born in the UK, she graduated from the Royal Academy of Music, London with first class honours and distinction, later studying at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln and the Georg Solti Accademia. She was a young artist at the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar between 2021-2023. Highlights for the 2023/24 season include three role debuts for Staatsoper Hamburg, including the title role in a new production of Das Tagebuch der Anne Frank with David Bösch, as well as concerts with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra and the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra.

A prize winner at the 1st International Haydn Competition in Vienna and a Finalist in the 2022 Renata Tebaldi Competition, her wide ranging operatic repertoire includes Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Euridice in Haydn’s L’anima del Filosofo, Servilia in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito, Gretel in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, Fox in Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen, the Child in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges, and Valetto in L’incoronazione di Poppea - the last under the baton of Jane Glover.  She has performed at major theatres including Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Festival d’Aix en Provence, Staatsoper Hamburg, Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar, Nevill Holt Opera and Opera North.

With a particular interest in baroque and early repertoire, Olivia recently made her debut as the title role in Handel’s Teseo at the London Handel Festival with David Bates and La Nuova Musica. Other Handel roles include Ernando in the modern day premiere of Venceslao at the Halle Handel Festival with Opera Settecento and Leo Duarte, as well as Ino in Semele under Laurence Cummings and the title role in Dido and Aeneas under the direction of Michael Chance. Olivia has worked with Masaaki Suzuki and Trevor Pinnock on tour to the Lincoln Centre, New York, the Boston Early Music Festival, the Royal Festival Hall, London and the Bach Festival, Leipzig.

Olivia is a committed and passionate performer of contemporary music. Recent concert engagements include George Benjamin’s A Mind of Winter with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra under Finnegan Downie Dear, John Adams’ Grand Pianola Music under the baton of the composer, and the role of role Max in Oliver Knussen’s Where the Wild Things Are with both the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Tampere Filharmonia. In 2021 she made her German operatic debut at the DNT Weimar in the world premiere of Stewart Copeland’s Electric Saint.

As a recitalist, Olivia has performed to critical acclaim at Wigmore Hall, The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace and the Aldeburgh Festival. A Samling Artist and a Britten-Pears Young Artist she is also the founder of Sunday at Six - an concert series connecting audiences from around the world during the Covid 19 pandemic. Olivia’s musical education began aged eight when she began piano and singing lessons. She later became a girl chorister at Lincoln Cathedral under the direction of Aric Prentice and played child parts for Opera North in productions of The Magic Flute and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.