about

Philadelphia-based soprano Olivia Prendergast is a versatile singer known for her agility and sparkling tone.

Olivia is an avid believer in the beauty of contemporary music, and seeks out unique projects across genres. In the ‘24/’25 season, Olivia will spend the summer with The Chautauqua Institute as a Young Artist, performing as Isabella Gardner in American Apollo, and joins the Chautauqua Opera Company for their premiere of Missy Mazzoli’s Lincoln in the Bardo. As one of an eight-person soloistic women’s ensemble, she joins a sub-section of the Crossing to premiere Gabriela Ortiz’ new work, Revolución diamantina, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and conductor Giancarlo Guerrero. Earlier in the calendar year, Olivia sang her first Carmina Burana as the soprano soloist with the DeSales University Choir and Orchestra. With her love for outreach and recital work, she joined acclaimed Philadelphia recitalist Jeffrey Uhlig to put on a recital series this winter with over 20 public performances. She also sings with The Philadelphia Symphonic Choir, recently performing Mahler 3 with the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra under Yannick Nézet Seguin, and Verdi’s Requiem with Riccardo Muti.

In the ‘23/’24 season, Olivia joined The Glimmerglass Festival as a “jump-in” young artist to cover Calisto in La Calisto by Cavalli. She also sang with Opera Theatre of St. Louis earlier in the season as a Gerdine Young Artist, covering Cleopatra (Julius Caesar) and stepping in “seamlessly contribut[ing] as a poised silvery-voiced” Marie de’Medici in Galileo Galilei (review by Opera Today). Between summer festivals, she joined the East Passunk Opera Project in Philadelphia’s Annual summer series “The Arts on Center Stage!” in front of Philadelphia City Hall, singing Juliette (Roméo et Juliette), Morgana (Alcina), Adele (Die Fledermaus) and Ariel (The Little Mermaid). Originally from the Philadelphia-area, Olivia also was privileged to sing the National Anthem for her home team, the Phillies. 

Earlier in the season, she made her debut with Livermore Valley Opera Company as Pamina in their outreach production of The Magic Flute. She sang as the soprano soloist with the Mercersburg Symphony Orchestra for their spring concert in “Let the Bright Seraphim” by Handel, “Glitter and Be Gay” from Candide by Bernstein, and “Komm in mein Herzenshaus” from BWV 80. Her first performance with East Passyunk Opera Project (ePOP) was in their Italian opera extravaganza at Reading Terminal Market’s annual “Party at the Market!” Celebration, singing selections from La Traviata as Violetta, Rigoletto as Gilda, and Lakmé as Lakmé.

In her second season with the Merola Opera Program (2023), she performed as Lucia in The Rape of Lucretia by Benjamin Britten. For the Merola Grand Finale, she sang a flirtatious zarzuela duet as Carolina (Louisa Fernanda), and in the Act 1 sextet as Zerlina (Don Giovanni). She previously sang with Merola in 2022 as First Spirit and covered Papagena in their full production of Die Zauberflöte. Olivia also crooned oldies with Craig Terry, and joyfully explored the French repertoire in Merola’s Grand Finale as Juliette (Roméo et Juliette) and Frasquita (Carmen) with “outstanding projection” (The Classical Voice, San Francisco) on San Francisco’s War Memorial Stage.

She sang many times on the MAC stage at Indiana University, most notably as Margarita Xirgu (Ainadamar), Romilda (Xerxes), and Lisette (La Rondine). While still an undergraduate at Northwestern University, she performed in the Chicago premiere of Dog Days as Lisa, as well as a frisky Adele (Die Fledermaus) and Flora (The Turn of the Screw). Olivia placed second in the Midwest Region at the Laffont Competition (2024), after previously winning the St. Louis District (2023) and Tennessee District (2022).

Equally comfortable as a choral artist, she regularly sings with The Crossing, a three-time Grammy winning modern choral ensemble led by Donald Nally. In their ‘23/’24 season, she performed David Lang’s new major work, “poor hymnal” (which will go on tour in their ‘24/’25 season) and Harold Meltzer’s “You Are Who I Love” with Sandbox Percussion. 

An avid believer in the beauty of contemporary music, Olivia seeks out modern chamber works, most recently premiering as Joan in In Her Own Words: Joan of Arc Speaks, a new chamber work by New York City composer, Graciela Carriqui. She also sang with Alan Pierson as the soloists in the Midwestern premiere of Letters Made with Gold (Jaeger) and Tehillim (Reich). Pairing with her love of modern classical works, Olivia also adores early music. While at Indiana University, she also frequented the concert stage, singing as soprano soloist in Vesperae solennes de confessore (Mozart), Die Dönner-Ode (Telemann), and Weihnachts-Historie (Schütz) with conductor Dana Marsh in the Historical Performance Institute. She frequently appeared with the Bloomington Bach Cantata Project as a soloist for BWV 61: Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland and BWV 97: In allen meinen Taten, where she was praised for her particularly vibrant Bach interpretations.