Canadian soprano Olivia Smith is currently in her second year of SAN Francisco Opera’s prestigious Adler Fellowship program. Lauded for her “rich, humane soprano” (Opera Canada) and “convincing and poignant” portrayals (Boston Intelligencer), this season the young soprano makes her role and house debut as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Opera Philadelphia and performs the role of Micaëla in SAN Francisco Opera’s “Carmen Encounter”. Last season, she sang Erste Dame in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, and received praise for her portrayal of Chrisann Brennan in The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs by Mason Bates and Mark Campbell. She made her mainstage debut in Spring 2023 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, and as Leila in an excerpt from Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles.

A 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. 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 Online Viewers’ Choice Award and the Ana María Martínez Encouragement 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.