Olivia Safe
There is no such thing as 'crossover' or 'fusion' for Olivia Safe, a singer who mixes opera with electronica, classical with pop, with elegant ease.
From Café Del Mar to the Salzburg Festival, the Indie Music Awards to the London Palladium, audiences have been knocked sideways by her talent, attitude and performance.
Olivia was all over TV and media in 2008 when she won the chance to tour in A Night at the Opera, having been whittled down from 3,000 hopefuls and winning the public vote on The Alan Titchmarsh Show facing judges Jonathan Ansell, David Grant, Ruthie Henshall and Jonathan Shalit – and a public vote. A Night At the Opera toured 18 venues taking in the Cardiff Millennium Centre and London Palladium.
Last year Olivia blended her unique vocals with downtempo trance into the beautiful, blissed-out The Journey album by La Mia Bocca, a collaboration with producers Marko Bussian and Wolfgang Filz (Enigma, Ofra Haza). They opened the Indie Music Awards with their version of La Wally from cult French movie Diva. Another track, Ocean of Sadness, appeared on Ministry of Sound's The Annual.
Sony BMG has released two albums by Olivia singing with tenor Bjorn Casapietra with a third, live outing to follow soon. Her film work includes the title tracks for Roland Emmerich (The Day After Tomorrow)'s movie Coronado and David Mulloy's BAFTA- and Oscar-nominated Son. She was one of the organisers of Home House's legendary, now defunct 'jam nights' which saw her performing for, and collaborating with, the likes of Philip Salon, Sacha Baron Cohen, Marcella Detroit, Matt Lucas and David Walliams.
Olivia studied at the acclaimed Wells Cathedral School in Somerset (having been awarded their first ever full scholarship for voice) and The Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Whilst there she performed with the BBC Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Sir Colin Davis) and as a soloist at the Birmingham Symphony Hall (conducted by Sir Simon Rattle). Her performances have since taken in Twickenham stadium (in front of 80,000 for the EDF Rugby Final) and the Great Hall Of the People in Beijing.
In October 2009, Olivia sung with Robbie Williams at the London Roundhouse for the BBC Electric Proms. In a show broadcast live in over 250 cinemas across 23 countries, she provided the dramatic intro for the concert's opening number, Bodies, backed by a 38-piece orchestra. That show's musical director was Robbie's producer, the Grammy- and triple Brit Award-winning Trevor Horn who, blown away by her performance, signed her to his label Zang Tuum Tumb.
The first fruits of this partnership can be heard on Three L10ns, Trevor Horn's football anthem remake for the 2010 World Cup – Olivia opens and closes the hit single which features the assorted talents of David Baddiel, Frank Skinner, Robbie Williams, Russell Brand and the ZTT Orchestra. She is currently recording her début album – a collection of covers ranging from Damien Rice to Leonard Cohen, Rufus Wainwright to Tim Buckley – with Horn, Graham Archer (Robbie Williams, John Legend) and Julian Hinton at the controls.
