Foto:Felix Broede

“Olivia Vermeulen as Cherubino sings with exquisite, inexhaustible sweetness.”

(FAZ 8 November 2011)

 “Olivia Vermeulen in the title role of Ariodante sang such wonderfully luminous, captivating coloraturas that  no one will ever forget it.”

(Eleonore Büning, FAZ 2011)

Mezzosoprano Olivia Vermeulen has in recent years established herself as a versatile soloist on major international stages.

In May 2016, she made her tumultuously celebrated debut at the Berlin State Opera, taking the lead role of Turno in Agostino Steffani's opera Amor Vien dal Destino under René Jacobs. In addition, she has toured with the Budapest Festival Orchestra under Iván Fischer in Mozart's Magic Flute to cities including Budapest, Amsterdam, London and Berlin, and performed for the first time under Daniel Harding with the London Symphony Orchestra, singing Schumann's Scenes from Goethe's Faust in London's Barbican Hall.

In 2017, the mezzo soprano will make her debut at the Ruhrtriennale in a world premiere by Philippe Manoury. She will also sing the title role in Vivaldi's opera Arsilda (Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, Opéra de Lille, Opéra Royal Versailles), and perform at the Opéra Comique in Paris.

In 2018, she will return to the Berlin State Opera as Cherubino.

In 2015 she gave her debut as Annio in Mozart's La clemenza di Tito under Christopher Moulds in Moscow. In Japan she performed in J. S. Bach’s St Matthew Passion under Masaaki Suzuki and participated in a CD recording of Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor, also with Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki.

In the 2013/14 season Olivia Vermeulen sang the part of Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro under Jonathan Cohen in a production by the Festival Aix-en-Provence at the opera of Dijon. At the Händel-Festspiele Karlsruhe and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam she received much acclaim for her performances as Almirena in Handel’s opera Rinaldo with the Lautten Compagney Berlin. Together with this ensemble she also recorded a solo CD of Italian Baroque arias, which will be released by Sony/BMG.

In 2012 she was acclaimed by critics and audiences alike for her Amsterdam Concertgebouw debut with the Radio Kamer Filharmonie under Michael Schønwandt. Another successful debut followed in 2013 at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, as Smeraldine in Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges, conducted by Tomáš Netopil.

The mezzo soprano appears regularly at international festivals (Opera Festival Munich, Musikfest Berlin, Handelfestspiele Halle) and on major concert stages, under Philippe Herreweghe, Helmuth Rilling, Iván Fischer, Peter Eötvös, Marek Janowski, Andrea Marcon, Franz Brüggen, Andrew Parrott, Reinhard Goebel, Michael Schønwandt, Andreas Spering, Alessandro de Marchi, Konrad Junghänel, Enoch zu Guttenberg and Lothar Zagrosek.

Olivia Vermeulen launched her operatic career as a member of the Studio of Berlin’s Komische Oper from 2008 to 2010, where she appeared in such leading Mozart roles as Cherubino (directed by Barrie Kosky) and Zerlina. At the opening of the 2010/11 season at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow she took the role of L’Enfant in a concert performance of Ravel’s opera L’Enfant e les Sortilèges, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski. Other leading parts in her repertoire include Ariodante in Ariodante, Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, Ramiro in La finta giardiniera, Idamante in Idomeneo and the title role in La Cenerentola.

Olivia Vermeulen studied singing in Detmold with Mechtild Böhme, completing her training with Julie Kaufmann at the University of the Arts in Berlin. She supplemented her studies with song classes under Wolfram Rieger and Axel Bauni and master classes with Andreas Scholl, Thomas Quasthoff, René Jacobs, Irwin Gage and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Currently she is coached by Magreet Honig.

In 2008, the rising star won the prestigious international 'La Voce' song competition held by public- service broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk. The versatile singer’s artistry is documented on numerous broadcast and CD recordings.




Last update December 2016