Olivia Esther, Horn
Olivia Esther, horn
OLIVIA ESTHER, HORN
OLIVIA ESTHER “…plays with fearless conviction.” – Winnipeg Free Press.
Olivia Esther is a sought after performer, recording artist, and educator in Canada. Olivia has performed with many of Canada’s finest arts organisations and orchestras including Canadian Opera Company, National Ballet Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony, Symphony Nova Scotia, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Hamilton Philharmonic, Esprit Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Festival of the Sound, and the Toronto Jazz Festival. She has also performed with award-winning artists such as Adele, to legendary performers like Barbra Streisand, and Herbie Hancock.
Ms. Esther holds a Master of Education in Curriculum Development with a Focus in Music Education (2018) and a Bachelor of Music in Horn Performance (2003) from Acadia University. Olivia is an alumni of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada (2002) where she worked with renowned conductor, Kazuyoshi Akiama and toured Japan, Hong Kong, and Western and Central Canada. From 2004-05 Olivia was invited to be a fellow in the prestigious orchestral training program at Chautauqua Institute in upstate New York. While studying, she was one of two students chosen to perform with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra horn section lead by Music Director, Uri Segal, as an extra allowing her to work with some of the finest musicians from the world’s leading symphony orchestras and conservatories including, the Indiana University, Rice University, Eastman School of Music, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
In 2003, Olivia was accepted to a three month residency at the Banff Centre for Performing Arts. Her teachers and mentors include Joan Watson (former Principal horn, Canadian Opera Company), John Zirbel (former Principal horn, Montreal Symphony Orchestra), Denis Derome (Associate Principal horn, Montreal Symphony Orchestra), Roger Kaza (Principal horn St. Louis Symphony Orchestra) and Mary Lee (2nd horn Symphony Nova Scotia. She has played in masterclasses for Barry Tuckwell, James Sommerville, David Kreybyl, Lowell Greer, and has been mentored by Julie Landsman (former Principal horn, MET Opera, Juilliard), Randy Gardner (former 2nd horn Philadelphia Orchestra, Cincinnati Conservatory) and Jeffrey Agrell (former Principal horn Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Prof. Emeritus University of Iowa).
In 2007, Olivia accepted a year position with Kvintten Nord, the only full time professional brass quintet in Finland with a mandate to present concerts and teach in the western regional areas of the country. The quintet was also part of the brass section for Vasa City Symphony Orchestra.
Community music and education has been central to Olivia’s career and has led her to create and lead several grassroots projects. In 2010, Ms. Esther was invited to be ‘Musician-in-Residence’ at the University of New Brunswick where she performed as recitalist on the Music on the Hill Concert Series. During the residency Olivia initiated Viva Arts, a not for profit organisation that promotes and supports music and arts education in the public school system. Viva Arts established a dynamic and engaging curriculum in the Fredericton area which taught children ages 9-13 to play a band instrument from scratch. In 2011, the camp was hailed as, “the best money ever spent on a camp.” Viva Arts has produced educational concerts in New Brunswick as well as brought internationally renowned composer, musician and educator, David Amram, to Toronto, Canada for a festival of lectures, workshops and concerts. Olivia also gave the Canadian premiere of Amram’s Concerto for Horn and Orchestra with the York Symphony Orchestra in 2012. In 2018, Olivia was asked to develop a pilot music program for the Kawartha Youth Orchestra which would benefit under-served and marginalised children in Peterborough, ON. Her work enabled the organisation to receive a three year seed grant from the Trillium Foundation. Ms. Esther is a faculty member at The Royal Conservatory of Music and Interprovincial Music Camp.
Olivia’s most recent initiative began during the COVID-19 pandemic where she created an all inclusive multi-generational community horn group called Sonic Horn Revolution which presented pop-up performances to surprise and delight audiences all over Toronto. The initiative has since travelled to Winnipeg and will soon ‘pop up’ in Columbus, Akron and Cincinnati, Ohio in 2023.
