Last season Boen made a number of house and role debuts, including Alice in Verdi’s Falstaff at Opéra national de Paris, an ‘electrifying’ (Wall Street Journal) debut as Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così Fan Tutte for Detroit Opera, and a trio of Mozart role debuts for the Staatsoper Hamburg alongside returning to Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel: Servilia in La clemenza di Tito, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte and Sifare in Mitridate, re di Ponto. In concert, Boen’s plans included debuts with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales for Rossini’s Stabat Mater cond. Nil Venditti, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y Leon for Britten’s Les Illuminations cond. Mark Wigglesworth and the Philharmonia Orchestra for the UK premiere of Hans Abrahamsen’s Two Inger Christensen Songs cond. Chloe Rooke. Boen made her debut with Le Cercle de l'Harmonie for concert performances as Annina in Verdi’s La Traviata at the Philharmonie de Paris cond. Jérémie Rhorer.
On the concert platform, highlights include the title role Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel in a concert performance with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra cond. Sir Andrew Davis, Beethoven’s ‘Ah, Perfido!’ with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Dvořák’s Stabat Mater with the Grant Park Music Festival.
Until the 23/24 season, Boen was a member of the Opernstudio at the Staatsoper Hamburg where she sang Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, Musetta in La bohème and Anna in Nabucco, in addition to creating the roles of Xenia in Frank Castorf’s new production of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov and Inez in Immo Karamon’s new production of Verdi's Il trovatore.
Boen made her European debut at the Verbier Festival under the baton of Valery Gergiev as Die Stimme des Falken in Strauss’ Die Frau Ohne Schatten and as Erste Dame in Die Zauberflöte with Stanislav Kochanovsky. Roles elsewhere have included Countess Susanna in Wolf-Ferrari’s Il Segreto di Susanna, Queen Mother in Jonathan Dove’s The Little Green Swallow, the title roles in Handel’s Alcina and Serse, and Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tirésias, Lauretta in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and has covered Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni.
Boen has given recitals at Wigmore Hall, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, the London Song Festival, Opera Holland Park, the Verbier Festival, LSO St. Luke’s, the Dame Myra Hess Recital Series, the Ravinia Festival and toured with the Oxford International Song Festival. Olivia has collaborated on outreach projects with the London Symphony Orchestra and Opera Holland Park, was a member of the Wigmore Hall French Song Exchange led by Dame Felicity Lott and François le Roux, was a Samling Artist, a 2021 City Music Foundation Artist and a Steans Music Institute vocal fellow at the Ravinia Festival.
Boen was awarded the English Song Prize from the London Song Festival in 2019, first place (Lynne Cooper Harvey Foundation Award) of the Musicians Club of Women Competition in 2018, a grant from the Frank Huntington Beebe Fund for Musicians in 2018, and first place at the Tuesday Musical Competition in 2017.
Boen trained at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she was a 2021 Gold Medal finalist, and has completed additional training at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Verbier Festival, Internationale Meistersinger Akademie and the Ravinia Steans Music Institute.
2025/26 season / 670 words. Not to be altered without permission.