About

Olivia Chaikin is a current fellow of The Orchestra Now and a student of Elizabeth Mann and Marisela Sager. She began studying flute at the age of 10, and was a prize-winning flutist in her middle school’s jazz band until she shifted to classical studies at the age of 15. Olivia attended California State University Sacramento for the first two years of her undergraduate degree, where she studied with Laurel Zucker. At Sacramento State University, she won the Saturday Club Scholarship and was a finalist twice for the Festival of New American Music Student Artist Competition. In 2020, she transferred to the Mannes School of Music, where she first studied with Judith Mendenhall. In March 2023, Olivia gave the NY Premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s flute concerto, “The Light We Can Hear”, at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall with the Mannes Orchestra.

Olivia has performed as principal flutist in The Orchestra Now, the Colorado College Summer Music Festival Orchestra, Mannes Orchestra, Westside Chamber Players Orchestra, Sacramento State Symphony Orchestra, Modesto Opera, Sacramento State Wind Ensemble, and Atlantic Music Festival Orchestra. As a soloist, Olivia has been featured in the Mannes Sounds Festival, Montclair Music Club, and Westside Chamber Players Chamber Series. In 2025, Olivia was a fellow at The Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and in 2022 she was a fellow at the Colorado College Summer Music Festival.

Olivia was a prizewinner in 2024 at the Rochester Flute Association Emerging Artist Competition and the South Carolina Flute Society Young Artist Competition, and a semi-finalist at the Cluj Competition in Romania.

As a fellow at The Orchestra Now, Olivia has performed as principal flutist at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Symphony Space, and The Fisher Center at Bard.

Reviews:

https://themillbrookindependent.com/?p=3992

https://themillbrookindependent.com/?p=4257

https://gazette.com/arts-entertainment/review-festival-orchestra-pays-rich-dividends-at-colorado-college/article_8a41060c-ee6d-11ec-b45d-6b06f5257268.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/10/arts/music/bard-music-festival-martinu.html