Oliviana Marie
- Composer
- Actress
Oliviana Marie is a composer, conductor, lyricist, librettist, trumpeter and pianist, as well as an accomplished singer, dancer, and actress, currently studying composition at USC's Thornton School of Music, where she proudly represents her school on the Dean's List and as a Thornton Ambassador.
In 2024, Oliviana became the youngest winner of The ASCAP Foundation Sammy Cahn Award (past winners include John Mayer and Cinco Paul) and in 2023, she was the only composer to ever win two awards in the same year for ASMAC's Student Competition (The Ray Charles Vocal Arranging Award and The Bill Conti Big Band Arranging Award). She is a four-time Marvin Hamlisch International Music Award nominee in jazz, contemporary pop and classical composition, winning in 2023 for best R&B song, presented by Clive Davis.
Oliviana is the first female composer to be commissioned by the award-winning CAMARADA Chamber Music Ensemble and composed "The Elements," which premiered in October 2024 at The Mingei Museum in San Diego, CA, in celebration of Camarada's 30th Anniversary.
Coming from a theatrical background, when she was 10 years old, Oliviana fulfilled every young girl's dream, playing the title role of ANNIE in Burbank Community Theatre's production of the beloved classic. This led to her wanting to write her own musicals, and at the age of 15, Oliviana's first musical, THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE (book, music, lyrics) was mentored by the legendary Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin, Godspell) and presented at The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.
Since then, she's written four musicals, the most recent, CORONA'S CABARET: An Act of Destruction, where Oliviana portrayed the Coronavirus as a nightclub singer, was performed live during lock down, winning the Audience Choice Award for PLAYBILL'S Virtual Theatre Festival. In 2024, CORONA'S CABARET was revived and went on to win The Foundation for New American Musicals' ShowSearch Competition and was mentored by the inspirational musical theatre performer/playwright/lyricist Gretchen Cryer (I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road.)
During high school, Oliviana continued her piano studies with Helene Mirich (teacher of Laura Karpman and Craig Safan) and thrived at The Colburn School, playing trumpet in their brass quintet, wind ensemble and symphony orchestra, while studying conducting with Maxim Eshkenazy. After having the orchestra play one of her compositions, Maxim urged her to apply for the LA Phil's Composer Fellowship Program.
At the LA Phil, Oliviana flourished under the tutelage of Andrew Norman, Thomas Kotcheff and the late Sarah Gibson. Her composition "Ballet d'Isolment Covid," was performed by Hub New Music Ensemble, and premiered at the Los Angeles Ballet Academy, where Oliviana co-choreographed and performed in the ballet, herself!
Because of her acting knowledge, fluency in Spanish and skill with orchestral scores, Oliviana was asked by producer Gabriella Camejo to assist director Alberto Arvelo and conductor Gustavo Dudamel for the LA Phil/Deaf West production of Beethoven's FIDELIO, notating all the staging in the score of the dual cast (deaf/signing and singing actors), and conveying the important cues to Dudamel to add to his score. She went on to assist Camejo and Arvelo with the San Diego Symphony's production of Antonio Estévez's CANTATA CRIOLLA under the baton of Rafael Payare.
Her love of the theatrical and musical realms has truly come together, leading Oliviana to compose underscoring for the stage and screen. At USC, she composed and performed in Conjunto (writer Oliver Mayer/director Jean Carlo Yunén), Chavez Ravine, and Troilus and Cressida (dir. Edgar Landa) and has enjoyed screen scoring Spin the Bottle (dir. Paolo Cerrino, LA Film School), Are We Dead Yet? (dir. Lilly Urban, AFI) and Sundown (dir. Jordan Freeman, USC).
As a three-time participant of the Los Angeles Film Conducting Intensive at Warner Brothers Studios, Oliviana studied under the legendary Conrad Pope, Emilie Bernstein, William Ross, and Booker White. In the summer of 2024, Oliviana had the honor of conducting the Orquestra Sinfónica Nacional de Costa Rica on her composition Memento Mori.
Fun fact! Oliviana's mom is vocal coach Evelyn Halus. She's taught the band Depeche Mode since 1996 and loved Oliviana's piece Memento Mori so much that she shared it with Martin Gore during one of their lessons. The rest is rock and roll history. (DM's latest album and tour was MEMENTO MORI)
Oliviana is a proud member of ASCAP (since 2016), ASMAC, AWFC, MAESTRA, The SCL, The Academy of Scoring Arts, The Creators Society and The Dramatists Guild.
In 2024, Oliviana became the youngest winner of The ASCAP Foundation Sammy Cahn Award (past winners include John Mayer and Cinco Paul) and in 2023, she was the only composer to ever win two awards in the same year for ASMAC's Student Competition (The Ray Charles Vocal Arranging Award and The Bill Conti Big Band Arranging Award). She is a four-time Marvin Hamlisch International Music Award nominee in jazz, contemporary pop and classical composition, winning in 2023 for best R&B song, presented by Clive Davis.
Oliviana is the first female composer to be commissioned by the award-winning CAMARADA Chamber Music Ensemble and composed "The Elements," which premiered in October 2024 at The Mingei Museum in San Diego, CA, in celebration of Camarada's 30th Anniversary.
Coming from a theatrical background, when she was 10 years old, Oliviana fulfilled every young girl's dream, playing the title role of ANNIE in Burbank Community Theatre's production of the beloved classic. This led to her wanting to write her own musicals, and at the age of 15, Oliviana's first musical, THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE (book, music, lyrics) was mentored by the legendary Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin, Godspell) and presented at The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.
Since then, she's written four musicals, the most recent, CORONA'S CABARET: An Act of Destruction, where Oliviana portrayed the Coronavirus as a nightclub singer, was performed live during lock down, winning the Audience Choice Award for PLAYBILL'S Virtual Theatre Festival. In 2024, CORONA'S CABARET was revived and went on to win The Foundation for New American Musicals' ShowSearch Competition and was mentored by the inspirational musical theatre performer/playwright/lyricist Gretchen Cryer (I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road.)
During high school, Oliviana continued her piano studies with Helene Mirich (teacher of Laura Karpman and Craig Safan) and thrived at The Colburn School, playing trumpet in their brass quintet, wind ensemble and symphony orchestra, while studying conducting with Maxim Eshkenazy. After having the orchestra play one of her compositions, Maxim urged her to apply for the LA Phil's Composer Fellowship Program.
At the LA Phil, Oliviana flourished under the tutelage of Andrew Norman, Thomas Kotcheff and the late Sarah Gibson. Her composition "Ballet d'Isolment Covid," was performed by Hub New Music Ensemble, and premiered at the Los Angeles Ballet Academy, where Oliviana co-choreographed and performed in the ballet, herself!
Because of her acting knowledge, fluency in Spanish and skill with orchestral scores, Oliviana was asked by producer Gabriella Camejo to assist director Alberto Arvelo and conductor Gustavo Dudamel for the LA Phil/Deaf West production of Beethoven's FIDELIO, notating all the staging in the score of the dual cast (deaf/signing and singing actors), and conveying the important cues to Dudamel to add to his score. She went on to assist Camejo and Arvelo with the San Diego Symphony's production of Antonio Estévez's CANTATA CRIOLLA under the baton of Rafael Payare.
Her love of the theatrical and musical realms has truly come together, leading Oliviana to compose underscoring for the stage and screen. At USC, she composed and performed in Conjunto (writer Oliver Mayer/director Jean Carlo Yunén), Chavez Ravine, and Troilus and Cressida (dir. Edgar Landa) and has enjoyed screen scoring Spin the Bottle (dir. Paolo Cerrino, LA Film School), Are We Dead Yet? (dir. Lilly Urban, AFI) and Sundown (dir. Jordan Freeman, USC).
As a three-time participant of the Los Angeles Film Conducting Intensive at Warner Brothers Studios, Oliviana studied under the legendary Conrad Pope, Emilie Bernstein, William Ross, and Booker White. In the summer of 2024, Oliviana had the honor of conducting the Orquestra Sinfónica Nacional de Costa Rica on her composition Memento Mori.
Fun fact! Oliviana's mom is vocal coach Evelyn Halus. She's taught the band Depeche Mode since 1996 and loved Oliviana's piece Memento Mori so much that she shared it with Martin Gore during one of their lessons. The rest is rock and roll history. (DM's latest album and tour was MEMENTO MORI)
Oliviana is a proud member of ASCAP (since 2016), ASMAC, AWFC, MAESTRA, The SCL, The Academy of Scoring Arts, The Creators Society and The Dramatists Guild.
