Olivia Moss is a British soprano, currently based between Helsinki and London, with international engagements so far taking her to Greece, Italy, Norway and Denmark alongside her performances across the UK and Finland. Olivia’s upcoming engagements include joining the Liverpool Mozart Orchestra as soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and singing Queen of the Night again with the Bergen National Opera Academy.
Recent performance highlights include singing Charlotte in Krenek’s Der Diktator in her debut with Tapiola Sinfonietta, Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (Sibelius Academy Opera), returning to Glyndebourne for their Talent Showcase and joining the chorus of the Finnish National Opera in Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra. Olivia was awarded The Gus Christie Award 2018 from Glyndebourne, the Second Prize in the Helsinki Lied Competition 2021 with pianist Kumi Shimozaki, a merit award from the Martin Weglius Foundation and she was a finalist in the Boosey & Hawkes International Sing Finzi Competition 2021.
Olivia made her Royal Festival Hall debut as a soloist in Bernstein’s Mass, under Marin Alsop. Further roles include the title role in Handel’s Semele (Sibelius Academy/Vantaa BRQ Festival), Suor Dolcina and cover for Suor Genovieffa in Puccini’s Suor Angelica (Heraklion Piano Festival, Crete) and Caterina in Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz (Sibelius Academy Opera, Helsinki). Further partial roles include Lucia (Lucia Di Lammermoor), Violetta (La Traviata), Gilda (Rigoletto), Amina (La Sonnambula) and Eurydice (Orphée aux Enfers). Selected for the Glyndebourne Academy, Olivia appeared in the culminating showcase at Glyndebourne as Tytania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Britten), Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro, Mozart) and First Witch (Dido & Aeneas, Purcell).
Olivia is deeply committed to the advancement of new music. Olivia has given several world premieres and continues this season with Järventausta’s En Sourdine in Denmark. Her other recent credits in this area include performing Ligeti’s iconic Mysteries of the Macabre in Helsinki, three concerts for the late Kaija Saariaho’s 70th Birthday Festival (for which she had the honour of working with Saariaho), the European premiere of Paul Carr’s Four New Seasons in Venice and performing Berkeley’s Songs of the Half Light with guitarist Teuvo Taimioja at the Luosto Amethyst Mine (Luosto Soi Festival). On the contemporary opera stage, Olivia was part of the working group for experimental opera Obsessions by Yiran Zhao, she covered for Yulia in the world premiere production of All the Truths We Cannot See by Pulkkis and she was in the chorus for the world premiere of Zatopek! by Emily Howard. Further credits include performances of works by Abrahamsen, Leinonen, Berio, Supponen and Fujikura amongst many others.
Her other work on the concert stage includes solos in Bach’s St John Passion, Handel’s Messiah, Handel’s Israel in Egypt, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, Dvorak’s Te Deum and Arion by Campra amongst many others and her passion for lied repertoire has led to regular recital appearances across the UK and Finland. Olivia is also featured on the film soundtrack for The Postcard Killings (Good Films Collective).
Olivia completed her Masters Degree at the Sibelius Academy in Finland, under the tutelage of Outi Kähkönen and Collin Hansen and working with other coaches and conductors, such as Ilmo Ranta, Tuuli Lindeberg, Antti Suhonen, Kristian Attila, Markus Lehtinen, Justin Doyle and Eamonn Dougan. Olivia’s studies at the Sibelius Academy were generously supported by the Selim Eskelin Foundation. Prior to this, Olivia studied privately with Rosa Mannion and Mary King, after graduating from the University of York with a BA (Hons) in Music in 2016, where she studied with John Powell. Olivia has also sung in masterclasses with Anu Komsi, Hartmut Höll, Soile Isokoski, Andreas Schmidt, Joan Rodgers, Mary King, John Ramster and David Gowland and was selected for studies at British Youth Opera, the Oxenfoord International Summer School Opera Programme, Abingdon Summer School, Morley College Opera School and the Savonlinna Academy.
Olivia’s journey with classical singing started in the Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Choir. With the LPYC she worked under the batons of Vasily Petrenko and Ian Tracey, sang her first solo (Gloria, Vivaldi) on the main stage of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and sang at the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games. Ensemble singing continues to be a part of Olivia’s musical journey; she continued developing her skills in The 24 under Robert Hollingworth and the University of York Chamber Choir under Peter Seymour and she is now in high demand in Finland’s professional ensemble scene. Most recently she was appointed section leader for EMO Ensemble and was selected for the acclaimed Helsinki Chamber Choir.
Olivia is married to composer Joel Järventausta, and they share their home with their Hungarian Vizsla, Elvis.
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Olivia Moss - Soprano 