Biography
Austrian-born violinist Olivia de Prato has established herself as a central presence within New York’s experimental music community, where she explores sonic palettes that span conventional and innovative approaches on her instrument. She has also belonged to multiple prominent chamber groups and maintained an active role as an instructor.
De Prato entered the world in Vienna, Austria, during 1983, with partial Italian roots that led her to spend portions of her youth near Venice. She began violin studies at age six, quickly recognized by instructors as a prodigy, and in 1995 gained admission to the preparatory division of the Vienna University of Music and Arts. While still in her teens she collected awards and appeared in recitals, among them a 1998 benefit performance with the Pro Arte Trio in Udine, Italy, supporting the Italian Red Cross. That same year she advanced to the University of Music and Arts itself, where she continued lessons with Dora Schwarzberg.
In 1999 De Prato presented her debut solo recital on American soil, followed the next year by a master class with Alice Schoenfeld at the University of Southern California. Relocating to the United States in 2001, she enrolled at the Eastman School of Music yet sustained European concert activity, rising to concertmaster of Eastman’s Philharmonia orchestra during her tenure there. By 2005 she had settled in New York and immersed herself in the city’s avant-garde circles, appearing at major festivals such as the Lucerne Festival under Pierre Boulez, the Bang on a Can Marathon, the Lincoln Center Festival, and Shanghai New Music Week, in addition to international tours alongside jazz bassist-vocalist Esperanza Spalding.
De Prato has participated in the ensembles Signal and Victoire—the latter assembled by composer Missy Mazzoli—and co-established the Mivos Quartet, serving as its first violinist. Her pedagogical record encompasses extended residencies and master classes at Princeton, Brooklyn College, the City University of New York, New York University, the Shanghai Conservatory, the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in Singapore, and Universidad Salvador in Brazil, among numerous other institutions. In 2018 she issued the solo violin recording Streya, which contains stylistically diverse pieces commissioned from six contemporary composers by James Manheim.
De Prato entered the world in Vienna, Austria, during 1983, with partial Italian roots that led her to spend portions of her youth near Venice. She began violin studies at age six, quickly recognized by instructors as a prodigy, and in 1995 gained admission to the preparatory division of the Vienna University of Music and Arts. While still in her teens she collected awards and appeared in recitals, among them a 1998 benefit performance with the Pro Arte Trio in Udine, Italy, supporting the Italian Red Cross. That same year she advanced to the University of Music and Arts itself, where she continued lessons with Dora Schwarzberg.
In 1999 De Prato presented her debut solo recital on American soil, followed the next year by a master class with Alice Schoenfeld at the University of Southern California. Relocating to the United States in 2001, she enrolled at the Eastman School of Music yet sustained European concert activity, rising to concertmaster of Eastman’s Philharmonia orchestra during her tenure there. By 2005 she had settled in New York and immersed herself in the city’s avant-garde circles, appearing at major festivals such as the Lucerne Festival under Pierre Boulez, the Bang on a Can Marathon, the Lincoln Center Festival, and Shanghai New Music Week, in addition to international tours alongside jazz bassist-vocalist Esperanza Spalding.
De Prato has participated in the ensembles Signal and Victoire—the latter assembled by composer Missy Mazzoli—and co-established the Mivos Quartet, serving as its first violinist. Her pedagogical record encompasses extended residencies and master classes at Princeton, Brooklyn College, the City University of New York, New York University, the Shanghai Conservatory, the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in Singapore, and Universidad Salvador in Brazil, among numerous other institutions. In 2018 she issued the solo violin recording Streya, which contains stylistically diverse pieces commissioned from six contemporary composers by James Manheim.
Albums
