Olivia Ray
Olivia played the title role in Opera South’s February 2010 production La Périchole and also sang at the New Year Party concert.
Olivia Ray studied at the Royal Northern College of Music; at the English National Opera (ENO) programme for young opera singers, The Knack; and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama (GSMD). She then received a fellowship to Aspen, Colorado to study with Susanne Mentzer. She currently studies with Robert Dean.
Olivia’s recent operatic engagements include the title role in La Cenerentola (Rossini) with English Pocket Opera, Minotaur Productions and London Opera Productions; Olga in Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky) with Scottish Opera On Tour; Maddelena in Rigoletto (Verdi) with Live Action Opera; Irene in Theodora and Pulcheria in Riccardo Primo (both by Handel) with Opéra de Baugé, France; the Mother in The Tales of Hoffmann (Offenbach), and Esmeralda in The Bartered Bride (Smetana) with Mid Wales Opera; the title role in Carmen (Bizet) with Pavilion Opera, Opera Brava, and Mananan Arts Festival(on the Isle of Man); Annina in La Traviata (Verdi) with Pavilion Opera; Smeraldina in The Love for Three Oranges (Prokofiev) with English Pocket Opera; Tisbe in La Cenerentola with OperaFour; Dido in Dido and Aeneas (Henry Purcell) with Minotaur Productions and with Cannon Scholars; Mrs Kneebone in A Dinner Engagement (Lennox Berkeley) with Opera East; Nadine in the workshop production of Tangier Tattoo (John Lunn) with Glyndebourne; and Melanto in Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria (Monteverdi) with GSMD.
Prizes awarded to Olivia include a Fellowship to the Aspen Music Festival and School, Colorado (2003); a Lillian Baylis Bursary at The Knack, ENO (2002); the Clare Croiza Prize for French Song, RNCM (2001); John Cameron Special Lieder Prize, RNCM (2000).
Future engagements include the Sea Pictures with Hounslow Symphony Orchestra, Carmen with English Pocket Opera and the role of Curra in La Forza del Destino with Opera Holland Park.