Kieffer, Olivia

Olivia Kieffer

Biography

Born: 1980

Country: Wisconsin, USA

Studies: University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music; Georgia State University, UW – Milwaukee; University of Miami

Teachers: Allen Otte, Stuart Gerber, Jon Welstead, Lansing McLoskey, Charles Norman Mason

Website:https://oliviakieffer.com/

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Dr. Olivia Kieffer is a composer, percussionist, and educator. A native of Wisconsin, her music has been described as “immediately attractive,” “like a knife of light,” and “honest, to the point, and joyful!” She is Visiting Professor of Music Theory at Grand Valley State University. She earned a DMA in Composition at University of Miami (Coral Gables, FL) in 2023. Her musical mentors include percussionists Allen Otte and Stuart Gerber, and composers Marc Mellits, Douwe Eisenga, William Susman, Jon Welstead, Charles N. Mason, and Lansing McLoskey. She is the newest member of smol ensemble, a quintet of percussionists and pianists. Olivia is former adjunct music faculty at Reinhardt University (2009 – 2017), where she taught percussion and World Music. She studied percussion at University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Georgia State University, and she studied music composition at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

She feels at home in both the classical and rock worlds, and was an active performer in Atlanta’s vibrant contemporary classical music scene for over a decade, including her work as bandleader and drummer for the 7-piece chamber rock band Clibber Jones Ensemble. She is a long-time member of the Chix With Stix Percussion Group. She also performed regularly with the Terminus Ensemble and Bent Frequency, and 2015-2017 was co-director of the Reinhardt Contemporary Arts Festival and Atlanta’s SoundNOW Festival, as well as serving on the Music committee at Eyedrum Music & Art Gallery, where she curated the Composer’s Concert Series.

Olivia is perhaps best known for her toy piano books which contain 127 miniatures; “The Texture of Activity,” and “Playing the Changes,” and for her post-minimalist concert band piece “…and then the Universe exploded.” Since 2012, her compositions have been performed both nationally and internationally. She has been commissioned by Mid America Freedom Band; guitarists Darren Nelsen and Matthew Linder; percussionists Brandon Dodge, Nathaniel Gworek, and Colleen Phelps; toy pianist Amy O’Dell; GremlinsDuo; A/B Duo; fivebyfive; The New Music Conflagration; saxophonists Nicki Roman and Michael Hernandez; tubists Bill Pritchard and Josh Sevigny; the Deuson Pilkington Duo; the SENSORIA series at UW-Milwaukee; Bent Frequency Duo Project; flutist Laura Lentz; the “Pop Rock in Metal” sax quartet consortium; Duo 305; the Forage & Flourish Festival; Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble, smol ensemble, and Kontra Duo.

She can be heard as a drummer and percussionist on albums by Clibber Jones Ensemble, the Boston prog rock band Perhaps, the Georgia Brass Band, and the Emory University Wind Ensemble. Her compositions are on albums by toy pianists Amy O’Dell and Jacob Mason, tenor/guitar duet Deuson Pilkington Duo, chamber rock band Clibber Jones Ensemble, woodwind duet GremlinsDuo, and saxophonist Nicki Roman.

Her projects and compositions have been highlighted in Journal for the International Alliance for Women in Music; ArtsAtl; TomTom Magazine; Wide Circles podcast,; WABE-FM (90.1); listening to ladies; Moving Classics TV; Pete’s Percussion Podcast; and the 1track podcast. She is a guest contributor to NewMusicBox and EarRelevant. In 2017 Olivia was Composer in Residence at the Florida International Toy Piano Festival and the Mana Saxophone Institute.

Olivia serves on the Percussive Arts Society Diversity Alliance and the Percussive Arts Society Composition Committee, and is a member of the International Alliance for Women in Music.

Works for Percussion

Double Concerto for Toy Pianos and Chamber Orchestra - Percussion Duo (Mvt. II can be performed standalone, with 2 percussionists as the toy piano soloists)
Team Sports! - Percussion Quintet - (5 toy pianos + small percussion and whistles)
Retreat of the Laurentide - flute, clarinet, alto sax, bass clarinet, piano, drumset/vibes)
Winter’s Precious Hearts Little Book of Precious Music to Play on Her Bells - Glockenspiel
Etude No. 1 (Kieffer) - Marimba
Leto II Accepts the Sandtrout onto his Body - Bass Clarinet + 5-octave Marimba
Take it Anywhere! - Percussion Duo and 2 Toy Piano
color coming silent - Multiple Percussion & Solo Singing
Play the Robot - Percussion Trio
Punch it, Margaret! - Marimba Quartet – 4 players on 3 marimbas
Tsingy’s Day - Marimba
10 Short Pieces for Solo Vibraphone - Vibraphone
He Said She Said Drawing Game - Vibraphone, with tape
Omnipresent Lion - Glockenspiel + Soprano Sax
Reflection Canon - Vibraphone Duet
Focused Cyber - Flute and Vibraphone + Backing Track
Down The Hatch, She Wrote - Vibraphone Duet
The Smallest Become the Tallest - Vibraphone and Drone
Power Walking Music - Percussion Ensemble (11)