Smith, Olivia

Soprano

Canadian soprano Olivia Smith is a second-year Adler Fellow at San Francisco Opera, where this season she makes her mainstage debut as the Voice of the Falcon in Strauss’ Die Frau ohne Schatten. Smith was a participant in the 2022 Merola Opera Program, where she appeared as Margarita Xirgu in scenes of Golijov’s Ainadamar, as Leila in an excerpt from Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles, and covered the role of Pamina in Die Zauberflöte.

A recent graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Smith performed the Governess in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw with Curtis Opera Theater and Marguerite in excerpts of Gounod’s Faust with Curtis Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Additional roles include Cathleen in Vaughan Williams’ Riders to the Sea, First Witch in Dido and Aeneas, and Mrs. Gobineau in Menotti’s The Medium.

Smith has received recognition from Houston Grand Opera’s Eleanor McCollum Competition, where she received both the Ana María Martínez Encouragement Award and the Online Viewers’ Choice Award. She was the First Place Winner in Opera Grand Rapids’ VanderLaan Prize competition and received an encouragement grant from the George and Nora London Foundation for Singers.

Smith particularly enjoys performing contemporary repertoire and exploring untold stories. When she isn’t performing, she returns to Penticton, British Columbia, to visit Lake Okanagan and spend time with her family.