Praised for the »exceptional wealth of colours« of her voice (Opernwelt) and her singing of »exquisite, inexhaustible sweetness« (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung), Olivia Vermeulen has established herself as one of the leading vocal artists in today’s classical music world. Her opera and concert performances in a wide range of repertoire from early music to 21st century works have stunned audiences around the world. 

Having celebrated her début at the Opéra National de Paris in 2019 in a Romeo Castellucci landmark production of Scarlatti’s »Il primo omicidio« conducted by René Jacobs, Ms. Vermeulen joined the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, also under René Jacobs, for an international tour as Donna Elvira in Mozart’s »Don Giovanni«. In the same season, she returned to Berlin’s Staatsoper Unter den Linden, where in 2016 she had made her tumultuously celebrated début in the lead role of Turno in Steffani’s »Amor Vien dal Destino« under the direction of René Jacobs. 2018 saw her début with the Berliner Philharmoniker in a performance of Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor conducted by Daniel Harding. Her interpretation of the role of Cherubino in »Le Nozze di Figaro«, performed on a 2018 worldwide tour with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra under René Jacobs, received rave reviews.

Olivia Vermeulen has frequently worked with eminent conductors such as René Jacobs, Philippe Herreweghe, Pablo Heras-Casado, Daniel Harding, Marek Janowski, Lothar Zagrosek, Giovanni Antonini, Iván Fischer, Frans Brüggen and Reinhard Goebel. She has appeared with many of the world’s most distinguished orchestras, including the Budapest Festival Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble Modern, and Camerata Salzburg, and has been invited to appear at leading festivals including the Festival International d’Art Lyrique d’Aix-en-Provence, Ruhrtriennale, Munich Opera Festival, Musikfest Berlin, Rheingau Music Festival, Mozartwoche Salzburg and the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival. 

A champion of an unusually wide range of repertoire spanning five centuries, Olivia starred at the 2018 Bregenz Festival in the world premiere of Thomas Larcher’s opera »Das Jagdgewehr«. She has premiered songs by Wolfgang Rihm and celebrated her début at the Ruhrtriennale festival in 2017 with the world premiere of »Kein Licht« by Philippe Manoury.

A native of the Netherlands, Olivia Vermeulen studied in Detmold, Germany, and in Berlin with Julie Kaufmann, and worked in masterclasses with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Andreas Scholl, Thomas Quasthoff, and Irwin Gage. Among many other distinctions and awards, she won the Bavarian Radio International Lied Competition »La Voce« in 2008. As a widely recorded and broadcast artist, her recent recording of Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor won awards and international critical praise. Her latest CD release of G. F. Händel’s version of »Didone abbandonata« (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi/SONY 2018) also received great critical acclaim worldwide.