Choir director Olivia Goliger is not just a teacher; she’s a world-class performer who brings the opportunities of professional critiques and performing in a master’s recital to her students.

Goliger is currently finishing graduate school and preparing for her upcoming graduate recital as a mezzo soprano in the Tanglewood Festival Choir, the choral portion of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO). This is considered one of the most prestigious and competitive choirs in the nation, a group Goliger has been a part of since 2019.

“The audition was the hardest audition I’ve ever done in my life,” Goliger said. “It’s been said by many folks in the classical choral sphere that the Tanglewood Festival Chorus is one of the most demanding auditions of all symphonic choruses in the nation.”

Goliger currently has a three-year tenure with the group, meaning she will not need to reaudition until 2026. Being in this group allows Goliger to remain in touch with her performing side, which she says sometimes slips away while teaching.

“I kind of see myself in two parts; there’s a teacher part of me that loves to instruct and to guide and to make music with my students,” Goliger said. “And then there’s a performer part of me.”

The time commitment for the choir varies based on the time of year. Depending on the difficulty of the music they are working on, rehearsals can be up to three hours; however, these occur mainly the week before a performance.

“It can be a big commitment when it really comes down to brass tacks, but you may have some months or weeks off at a time,” Goliger said.

On top of this, Goliger practices on her own for 30 minutes to an hour each day to prepare for rehearsals and performances.

“It challenges me,” Goliger said. “I get the opportunity to work with world-class instructors and the world-class Boston Symphony Orchestra. It’s not something I take for granted.”

Goliger helps her students through her work with the BSO, as she is exposed to new music and helpful techniques that benefit her as a performer and as a teacher.

“Honoring both parts of myself [performer and teacher] helps my students, and it also helps our community,” Goliger said. “What I think the world needs a lot of right now is beauty, and I get to do that every time I go in for a rehearsal or performance. That’s what I love about it.”

Goliger has formed a close relationship with BSO conductor James Burton over the years. This led to the opportunity for Goliger’s students to participate in a day-long workshop with him. Fine and Performing Arts department head Amy Collins values the impact Goliger’s experiences and professional connections have on students.

“She can take what she is doing in those groups and bring back ideas, rehearsal techniques, repertoire,” Collins said. “Her connection with James Burton and being able to bring him here to work with Algonquin students is amazing.”

In addition to performing with the BSO, Goliger has been pursuing her master’s degree in Choral Conducting at Messiah University for the last two years in a hybrid format consisting of remote learning during the school year and in-person intensives over the summer. Being a full-time teacher, student and performer has posed its challenges. The most difficult part for Goliger was figuring out how to balance everything.

“Some semesters I was better at [balancing things] than others,” Goliger said. “…People are going to need a lot of different things from me, making sure I meet all of my expectations and the high standards I tend to hold myself to.”

The capstone of Goliger’s academic work will be her graduate recital, which entails 45 minutes of music that will be performed primarily by current students, in addition to a few past students from Franklin High School. The recital, “We Who Are Song,” will be held on April 8 at 7 p.m. in the Algonquin Regional High School auditorium.

“All of the coursework that I’ve done up to this capstone has been in preparation for [it],” Goliger said. “The recital is really just a concert where I prove that I know what I’m doing.”

Goliger has taken various music theory, music history, diction and conducting classes to get to this point. Her graduate recital requires video submission of her conducting the choir, along with the academic portion which entails a comprehensive exam in addition to a written portion.

“I have to submit program notes, which is academic writing that I have to submit with tons of research that I’ve done about each one of the pieces that I’ve prepared,” Goliger said.

In her program notes, which will be over 10 pages long, Goliger will write about the research she did on the music being performed at her recital that she carefully selected for her students to execute.

“I picked a piece that chamber is going to sing called ‘The Bluebird’ by Ralph Vaughan Williams,” Goliger said. “I picked that for my mom, who passed away in 2020. There was a song she really loved by the Wings called ‘The Bluebird.’ Whenever I think of her I always think of bluebirds so that’s why I picked that piece.”

Like “The Bluebird,” many of the songs Goliger chose have an emotional importance to her. The two songs “Orpheus” and “Eurydice,” both written by recital accompanist Maik Kregler specifically for Goliger and her choirs, will be performed.

“It’s for me, but it’s also for you guys too,” Goliger said. “That’s the beautiful thing about education, it’ll benefit everyone.”

This story was originally published on The Harbinger on April 8, 2025.