Olivia Maughan is a graduate student in the Arts Administration graduate program at Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs. An active mezzo-soprano, Olivia strives to have one foot on both the administrative and artistic sides of opera today. She recently returned to Bloomington from a summer at the Santa Fe Opera as the Special Events Intern, and is a regular Resident Artist at The Ohio Light Opera. Olivia received her Master of Music in Voice from the University of Utah in 2013, and is a student of Costanza Cuccaro at IU. Olivia is married to tenor Andrew Maughan, a doctoral voice student at JSOM, and they have one dog baby, Charlie.
Contact Olivia
How did you get involved with NVO?
I have been in Bloomington for a few years now, and had periodically heard about the great things coming from NVO, but had never experienced it myself. This, I know, was a crime, since I am an opera singer myself. I eventually ended up in the Arts Administration master’s program at SPEA. It is through that program that I discovered my love for Development and Fundraising, two things I consider to be of vital importance for the success and future of opera. NVO provided an exciting medium to blend my two loves together with work and artistic opportunities unlike any I had experienced before.
What other organizations are you involved with?
I work for Cardinal Stage Company as the Marketing Assistant and Box Office Associate. At SPEA I am a Student Ambassador, meeting with and orienting new and potential students with the fantastic Arts Administration graduate program IU has to offer. I also work in SPEA’s Career Development Office as their Special projects Graduate Assistant. In my free time, I am the administrator for the IU Gilbert & Sullivan Society, a completely student-run and produced organization that presents one fully-staged Gilbert & Sullivan production every year; I also perform in the cast. I am a member of the Chancel Choir at First United Methodist Church. I worked for two years with the IU Ballet and Pre-College Ballet programs, and still consult for them from time to time.
What does "opera" mean to you?
Opera is the most expressive vehicle of human emotion. Often times we feel that, when words are not enough, music says what they cannot. Opera is the combination of all art forms that come together to say what words alone cannot. When I sing I feel so connected to my emotions, so in tune with what the character is feeling, that it often overwhelms me. I feel special, and lucky, to be able to convey the human experience through opera.