Olivia Yokers is a Florida based director, educator, and performer. Her work spans traditional opera, contemporary works, and musical theatre, with a rehearsal process centered on collaboration, creative exploration, and trust. Her stage directing credits include: Le nozze di Figaro, Acis and Galatea, and Hansel and Gretel with Stetson Opera. In 2025 Yokers collaborated with the Stetson Theatre to direct Joey Contreras’ new musical, In Pieces. She directed Music on Site’s touring production of Amahl and the Night Visitors and in 2025 directed Opera Orlando’s touring production of Hansel and Gretel.

Olivia has presented with organizations such as the National Opera Association, Association of Body Mapping Education, and the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Olivia emphasizes collaboration, creative exploration, and trust within the opera rehearsal space. She was a trainee with the Great Lakes Michael Chekhov Consortium and is currently a teaching trainee with the Association of Body Mapping Education. In her directing and coaching she invites actors to cultivate physical awareness, balance, and expressive clarity in performance.

When Olivia is not directing she is often found onstage. Praised for singing with “gorgeous vulnerability” (Richmond Times-Dispatch), she is well regarded for her thrilling voice and versatility onstage.Company engagements include Opera Las Vegas, Pacific Opera Project, Dayton Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Utah Festival Opera, Painted Sky Opera, Virginia Opera, and Charlottesville Opera. Notable roles include Musetta in La Bohème, Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Cinderella in Into the Woods, and Miss Honey in Matilda.

As an advocate for new music, Ms. Yokers has performed in the premieres of works such as Emily Clements’ Letters to Lily and the professional debut of Paul Fowler’s Behold the Man with Opera Las Vegas. In 2024, she was featured on composer Jennifer Bellor’s album Long These Days, performing the song cycle A Smile and a Sigh. The album is now streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, and other major platforms.

Olivia earned her Bachelor and Master of Music from Indiana University and recently graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with her Doctor of Musical Arts. There she wrote her dissertation on combining Michael Chekhov with Body Mapping to guide actors to recognize habitual tension, improve alignment, and experience singing as a coordinated, efficient, and joyful act.

She currently serves as Director of Opera and Assistant Professor of Voice at Stetson University. When she’s not performing, teaching, or directing, she enjoys spending time with her two cats, Mango and Yeti, and her husband, Andre.