Olivia Ziani

Biography

Olivia Ziani was born in London in 1999 and began playing the violin aged 6. She is currently studying with Yossi Zivoni at the Royal College of Music, where she is a Musicians’ Company Lambert Scholar.

Olivia attended the Trinity Laban Junior Department from 2010-2015 where she studied with Reiad Chibah, and was awarded many prizes including the Dora Zafranksy-Kastner Annual Award for a Violinist and the Vivian Joseph Prize for Strings. In September 2015, Olivia joined the Purcell School for Young Musicians, where she led the Symphony Orchestra and the Baroque Orchestra, performing at Watford Colosseum, St Jude’s Proms 2017, and Greenwich Early Music Festival 2017. Olivia has appeared as a soloist both in the UK and in Algeria, and in venues including St Martin-in-the-Fields, St James’s Church Piccadilly, St John’s Church Waterloo and the Marlowe Theatre, and also gave a solo recital as part of Leeds International Concert Season 2017. As a chamber musician, Olivia won the Pro Corda National Chamber Music Festival in 2015 with her string quartet, and has performed as part of the Purcell Contemporary Ensemble. 

Olivia was also a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain from 2014-2017, where she performed thrice at the BBC Proms, recorded a well-received CD for Chandos, and performed in Festival Berlioz 2017 in France. As an orchestral musician, Olivia has performed in some of the country’s most prestigious venues, such as the Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Bridgewater Hall, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and Barbican Hall, as well as work with some renowned conductors including Sir Mark Elder, Thomas Ades, Nicholas Collon, Vladimir Jurowski, Edward Gardner and John Wilson.

Olivia has participated in solo masterclasses with Chloe Hanslip, Tasmin Little and Anna Kandinskaya, and chamber music masterclasses with Alberto Bologni and the Wihan Quartet. She has also taken part in performances with the Palestine Youth Orchestra and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, with whom she performed alongside in a concert at the Barbican in 2016, conducted by Daniele Gatti. In January 2017, she performed in the Voices Beyond Divisions project in St James’ Church, Piccadilly, in aid of Syria Relief.

 

Musicians’ Company Award: RCM Lambert Studentship 2018 & 2019

Page Updated: May 2019