Olivia Johnson
mezzo-soprano
EVENTS CALENDAR
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UPCOMING EVENTS
The Cooper-Bing Competition (Opera Columbus)
May 19th, 2024 @ 3 pm, The Southern Theatre
21 East Main Street
Columbus, Ohio 43215
Click HERE for further information and Tickets!
Photo Credit: George Arnaldo
Bio
Based in North Carolina. Mezzo-soprano, Olivia Johnson was recognized by Opera News as a “standout... commanding and reassuring, with the timbre of a contralto and the astounding upper extension of a dramatic mezzo” for her portrayal of Girlfriend 3 in Jeanine Tesori and Tazewell Thompson’s opera, Blue, in production with Detroit Opera (2021-2022).
In the very beginning of this season, Ms. Johnson had the privilege of making her debut at The Metropolitan Opera as an Alto I soloist in X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X by Anthony Davis. Ms. Johnson is also honored to be a recipient of the Bagby Foundation Career Grant this season. The grant is awarded to support emerging artists that show great promise within the music industry.
This past summer, she was featured as a Gerdine Young Artist in Opera theatre of Saint Louis’ Summer Festival 2023. Nearing the end of the festival, Ms. Johnson had the most exhilarating evening where she stepped in as the cover of Monisha making her debut in Damien Sneed and Karen Chilton’s reimagined opera of Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha. Wall Street Journal noted that “Olivia Johnson … delivered with aplomb the aria in which Treemonisha’s mother recounts her daughter’s origins”. While at OTSL, she also covered the malicious smalltown bully, Mrs. McLean in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah and was featured in OTSL’s Center Stage with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra singing Pauline in the Pique Dame Duet, Charlotte in Sondheim’s “A Weekend in the Country” and Larina in the Act II Finale of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin.
Prior to this summer’s festival, Ms. Johnson had the privilege of participating in OTSL’s New Works Collective workshop in December of 2022 and returned in March of this year to perform leading roles in two of the three original 20-minute operas. This included Sister in Madison Lodge by Tre’von Griffith and Dr. Patricia E. Bath in Cook Shack by Del’Shawn Taylor and Samiya Bashir. Ms. Johnson was recognized for her performance in the New Works Collective by KDHX stating that “…Johnson was a strong, confident presence as Sister.”
Prior to performing in the New Works Collective, Ms. Johnson was awarded an encouragement award earlier this year in the finals of the 2023 George and Nora London Foundation Competition in NYC. In the summer of 2022, she attended Chautauqua Opera where she covered the role of the Mother in Thumbprint (Kamala Sankaram) and performed the role of Gertrude Stein in the Mother of Us All. Before attending Chautauqua, she covered Ella and performed Mezzo I in the ensemble of X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X (Anthony Davis) for the closing of Detroit Opera Theatre’s 2021-2022 season….
Click HERE for Full Bio!
