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Olivia Katz is a joyful, engaging, and dynamic cellist, improviser, and composer with a passionate interest in contemporary classical music. Olivia strives to create an interactive, inventive, and accessible environment in which the audience is encouraged to experience classical music, art, and beauty through a new lens. In addition to musicians and composers, Olivia collaborates with playwrights, singers, painters, actors, sculptors, and poets in multiple contexts and is dedicated to bringing artists’ visions to life. Currently in Boston, Olivia privately teaches many cello students in the greater-Boston area, regularly performs and records around the city and along the East Coast, is a part-time chamber coach through the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, is the cellist in Moon Unit–a cello and saxophone duet that specializes in free improvisation and contemporary works, and is the cellist in the Semiosis Quartet–a Boston-based string quartet dedicated to presenting a captivating and diverse contemporary classical repertoire.
In Summer 2025, Olivia is looking forward to participating as one of the ensembles in residence at New Music on the Point with Moon Unit, to premiere a piece by Tom Williams for the International Computer Music Conference, to be a fellow at the North Carolina Governor’s School, and to be a part of the High School Composer’s Intensive hosted at Boston Conservatory at Berklee with Semiosis as one of their resident string quartets.
In Summer 2024, the Semiosis Quartet participated in their 6th year of working as a resident string quartet in the High School Composer’s Intensive hosted at Boston Conservatory at Berklee. In Spring 2024, Olivia graduated from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee with a Master of Contemporary Classical Music Performance. During their time at Boston Conservatory, most notably, Olivia played in the contemporary classical ensemble contraBAND, BoCoCelli, Felix Quartet, collaborated and performed with The Rhythm Method and Annika Sokolovsky, and premiered Marti Epstein’s Guggenheim piece In Praise of Broken Clocks with Sound Icon. Outside of Boston Conservatory, Olivia premiered eight works through New Music Mosaic, three works by doctoral composition students at Boston University, Elsie Bae Han’s act Natural~ as a soloist with string orchestra with the Horizons Ensemble, and had their own graphic score, Moon Garden: Three of Cups, premiered at the Swiss Institute by Duo Indigo.
After graduating from Boston Conservatory in May 2024, most notably, Olivia has premiered and recorded Nō for cello, saxophone, and piano by YoungJun Lee at Peabody Conservatory, premiered Scenes for O and S written for Moon Unit by Robert Karpay, premiered Jeremy Flower’s A Series of Resolutions with Semiosis Quartet for string quartet and synthesizer at the Prior Performing Arts Center in Worcester, MA, and did a solo cello free improvisation performance at The Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis, MN. Additionally, Olivia had gotten their pieces Moon Garden: Ten of Pentacles premiered by the contemporary ensemble Der Gestanke, to be felt is never fleeting premiered by Moon Unit, and I am better now, out of my head by Hannah Elizabeth Tobias and Rose Hegele.
In 2021 while living in Portland, Oregon, Olivia collaborated with and premiered Carmen Burbridge and Jack Aldisert’s UNEARTHED—a play in which they shared the stage and accompanied the actors with solo cello for the entirety of the show, which was composed by Jack Aldisert and Olivia themself. Additionally, at the University of Puget Sound as a part of their undergraduate degree recital, they worked with queer poets and created six short and indeterminate solo cello works that coincided with each poem. Olivia has composed several graphic and indeterminate works and is looking forward to continuing composition as an additional form of musical expression alongside cello performance.
Olivia received their masters degree under Rhonda Rider and David Russell, and their Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance at University of Puget Sound under Alistair MacRae. They have also been a student of Sarah Brady, Kivie Cahn-Lipman, Diane Chaplin, Judith Eissenberg, Vimbayi Kaziboni, Mariel Roberts, Nancy Jo Snider, Brenda Villard, Alice Yoo, and Matthew Zalkind.
Between 2017 and 2023 Olivia attended the Cortona Sessions for New Music, Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, and Brevard Music Center. In 2024, Olivia attended New Music on the Point, Harvard Chamber Music Festival, and Longy’s Divergent Studio.
Outside of cello performance, Olivia is currently the administrative assistant for the Boston-based contemporary ensemble Hinge Quartet, is a chamber coach through the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, and is on the board for New Music Mosaic. During their time at Boston Conservatory Olivia was chosen to speak on behalf of the Boston Conservatory at Berklee Music Department at the annual Named Scholars Tea and worked as an ESL tutor. Olivia has been a camp counselor, a nanny, and worked at a thrift store; they especially enjoy being in nature, seeing live music, and exploring museums and antique stores.