Conductor, composer and educator Olivia Swift makes musicians out of potential. She knows how to lead people to grow to love and embrace challenge that once seemed impossible. She relishes rehearsals and getting stuck right into the nitty-gritty, all for that revelatory moment where the music “just clicks”. That sense of accomplishment and confidence in her musicians drives Olivia, and the belief that all music should be accessible to all people, regardless of experience. 

Based in Ngunnawal Country, Canberra, 2024 marks Olivia’s ten-year anniversary conducting the Kompactus Youth Choir, through which she has seen them through projects such as the Canberra International Music Festival, the Flowers of Peace series and multiple collaborations with artists such as Roland Peelman, Chris Latham, Sally Whitwell, John Rotar and Graeme Morton. She also directs the long-running Woden Valley Youth Choir, now in its 55th year, who each year present the Canberra Carols by Candelight and can be seen often around town performing the Australian National Anthem in the local Ngunnawal language. 

Olivia has sung with The Australian Voices, the Oriana Chorale, Luminescence Chamber Singers and the sextet Sidenote, touring with these groups around Australia and internationally. 

As a lover of choral and vocal music, she has written many choral works.  She studied composition at the ANU School of Music with Jim Cotter and Larry Sistky, and completed a Masters degree at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with Paul Stanhope, on the topic of contemporary madrigals.  She has been commissioned by various choirs such as the Sydney Children’s Choir, The Australian Voices and the Sydney Chamber Choir.