Olivia Shidler (harp), 15, has been a student of Nancy Allen at The Juilliard School Pre-College since the age of 12. Olivia began studying the harp at the age of 6 with Stacey Shames. At the age of 12, she made her Carnegie Recital Hall debut as a Grand Prix Winner of the Music Fest Rising Talents Festival Competition and was featured at Symphony Space in the Winner’s Concert of the Anselmo Competition. At 13, she won Second Place and then at 14, First Place, in the Young Artist Harp Seminar Mock Audition Competition in Maryland. In April 2024, Olivia was featured on PBS’s Great Performances series, Now Hear This, with Scott Yoo in the “Rising Stars” episode. She has performed under the baton of Maestro Gustavo Dudamel with the New York Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and Maestro Adam Glaser with the Juilliard Pre-College Symphony. She will be performing as a member of the Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall this fall under the baton of Maestro Glaser. Olivia has performed in master classes for Judy Loman, Katherine Siochi, and Emily Levin. On another “note,” for many years, Olivia performed at the Metropolitan Opera. From the ages of 6-9, as a child actor, she played the roles of Princess Elizabeth in Anna Bolena and was the featured child in Les pêcheurs de perles and L’elisir d’amore. From the ages of 10-12, she was a member of the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus, under the direction of Anthony Piccolo. She sang the child’s solo in the Met’s 2021-2022 production of La Bohème and was in the ensemble of Turandot. Olivia is currently part of the Juilliard Pre-College High School Chorus and studies classical voice with Ronald Cappon.
You can find Olivia’s 2024 Romantic Music Competition harp performance here.