Biography
Olivia Pike is a classically trained operatic soprano and pianist, recently returned to Canterbury, after spending the last three years in Boston, USA, where she was offered a place at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee in 2023. As a student her time in Boston gave her the opportunity to work with an extensive range of current industry professionals, including teachers, coaches, opera directors and conductors, and the opportunity to sing in masterclasses, opera scenes programmes, and full mainstage opera productions. After completing two years of graduate study, she stayed on to work at the conservatory as a pianist for the vocal department. She played for individual voice lessons, studio classes and a range of recitals and performances, as well as working as a Vocal Coach for the Boston Conservatory Vocal Choral Intensive (VCI) summer programme in 2025. As a voice department pianist Olivia worked closely alongside many of Boston Conservatory’s most sought after voice teaching staff, in both the classical and music theatre departments.
Prior to heading overseas, Olivia had a growing vocal career around New Zealand, and had been a member of the Freemasons New Zealand Opera Chorus in Christchurch since 2016. With NZ Opera, she made her mainstage debut as a Bridesmaid in Le Nozze de Figaro, in 2021, and sang 2nd Apparition in Verdi’s Macbeth in 2022. In 2023, she performed as The Good Fairy in Respighi’s Sleeping Beauty for the NZ Opera ‘ Opera in Schools’ Tour, giving over 40 performances across New Zealand.
While based in Dunedin for her studies, Olivia performed regularly for both Dunedin opera companies, Opera Otago, and The Little Box of Operas, with roles including Donna Elvira in Opera Otago’s 2018 production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, the title role in The Little Box of Opera’s 2021 production of Wolf-Ferrari’s Susanna’s Secret, and the title role in Miss Brill, as part of the Mansfield Trilogy, presented by Opera Otago in 2022. She appeared as a soloist for the City Choir Dunedin, and as a guest performer alongside Jonathon Lemalu in 2021, and in 2022 performed as Dorabella, in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, for the inaugural Marlborough Opera Festival. 2022 and 2023 saw Olivia make many recital appearances, including alongside Simon O’Neill, and in a fundraiser concert hosted on behalf of Olivia by the Arrowtown Creative Arts Society. In 2024, she made her Mainstage debut for the Boston Conservatory Opera Department as Peaseblossom, in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Later that year she went on to sing the principal role of Alma Winemiller, in Lee Hoiby’s Summer and Smoke, also for the Boston Conservatory Opera Department.
Olivia gained notable successes in aria competitions nationally, including first places in the 2024 Canterbury Opera Foundation Christchurch Aria, the 2023 Brayden Coldicutt Napier Aria, the 2022 North Shore Becroft Aria and the 2018 Dame Malvina Major Foundation Dunedin Aria. She placed third in the Dame Malvina Major Foundation Christchurch Aria in 2019 and 2023, and placed second in the Dame Malvina Major Foundation Christchurch Aria in 2021 and 2022. In 2022 she was a finalist in the New Zealand Aria Competition.
Her vocal work and interests are not limited to just opera, and she has performed regularly as a singer in many other capacities, including with The Octagon Ensemble, a Dunedin chamber choir established in 2020; in an audio/visual recording project for SOUNZ; and for larger Dunedin community events including Christmas at the Stadium. She is an alumnus of the New Zealand Opera School having attended in 2018 and 2020. She has also attended the New Zealand Singing School, held in Napier, first as a singer in 2015, and then again in 2019 as an accompaniment intern.
Alongside her singing, Olivia is a classically trained pianist, and studied with Professor Terence Dennis at the University of Otago for three years, whilst gaining her Bachelor of Music. She has continued to work as a pianist, including as a choral accompanist for many school choirs, as well as for events such as The Big Sing, at both the regional and national finale levels. She has worked as a private piano teacher since 2017 and has become a sought-after Vocal/Musical Director for both intermediate and high school productions, and professional theatre companies. She also worked as a répétiteur for several Dunedin singing competitions, and for a variety of freelance projects, including appearing as the pianist for a music video and audio recording of a track for Dunedin singer/songwriter Abby Wolfe in 2020.
Olivia began teaching singing privately with the Voice Lab in 2021 where she continued to teach until the end of 2022, and was a vocal coach for the Pop Lab summer programme in 2022 and 2023.
Olivia graduated in 2016 with a Bachelor of Music in Classical Voice Performance from the University of Otago, and returned for postgraduate study in 2021 under the tutelage of Dr Tessa Romano and Professor Terence Dennis, graduating with a Master of Music in Classical Voice Performance with Distinction in 2022. She also holds a Graduate Performance Diploma in Voice Performance from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, where she studied with Kerry Deal, graduating in 2025.
