“Spanish virtuoso” who adds “a flamenco touch to her chamber jazz (Arts Fuse),” Olivia Pérez-Collellmir is a solo pianist, composer and music director from Barcelona, Spain. Her musical and creative life is dedicated to the celebration and contemporary transformation of her Spanish and–more specifically–Catalan roots.

Growing up amidst the sounds of flamenco, while studying classical piano, Olivia Peréz-Collellmir has a life-long passion for the fusion of musical styles, including jazz. She began playing piano at age four and first studied under Núria Bonells, a disciple of Alicia de Larrocha. Collellmir entered The Superior Conservatory of Music in Barcelona when she was just 8 years old; the conservatory quickly decided she should go on tour performing Fauré Nocturnes and Bach Partitas.

Collellmir earned bachelor’s degrees in Classical Music Performance from the Conservatori Superior de Música de Barcelona and in Philosophy from the University of Barcelona. From the University of Barcelona and Ministry of Education of Spain, she earned master’s degrees in Music and Education.

Collellmir went on to become the Head of Music for the Department of Education of Catalonia where she conducted, recorded, toured, and performed. In 2014, she received a full scholarship from Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she moved, to expand her studies within the idioms of jazz and multicultural music. Her studies also included extensive training in composition, orchestration and conducting. She continued her commitment to her Spanish upbringing, and classical training, by composing music inspired by Spain’s 20th century classical music icons, Granados, Albeniz and Mompou, giving them a 21st Century sensibility.

Olivia progressed quickly at Berklee and was invited to join the piano faculty while still a student.

Olivia was the winner of the Berklee Piano Department’s prestigious Chair Award and also the Piano Achievement Award. Collellmir is the composer and performer of the award-winning compositions “Barcelona” and “Together,” which she premiered at the Berklee College Performance Center.

She graduated with a dual major from the Berklee College of Music with a Bachelor of Performance, Summa Cum Laude, and is currently an Assistant Professor at Berklee inthe piano department and the ensemble department.

As a tribute to her Spanish heritage, Collellmir formed the first Berklee Contemporary Spanish Music and Flamenco Jazz Ensemble. It attracted many influential artists in residence, including renowned dancer Sonia Olla (choreographer for Madonna and Ricky Martin), and Spanish vocalist and musicologist Ismael Fernández.

In 2023 Olivia was selected as Music Director for Berklee College of Music’s All-Star Band to record a Tribute to Paco de Lucía for the Latin GRAMMY® Cultural Foundation.

As a performer, Pérez Collellmir has performance residencies at the Beehive, the Beat Hotel, La Fábrica Central, and also performs at other well-established venues in both the U.S. and internationally. They include El Gran Teatre del Liceu, el Teatre Nacional de Catalunya and Mercat de Les Flors in Barcelona, el Teatre-Auditori de Sant Cugat, SOBs in New York City, and in recognized Boston jazz venues, including Regattabar, Ryles Jazz Club, the Museum of Fine Arts, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, TEDxCambridge and the Agganis Arena.

Her first full recording (Olivia), released in 2023, showcases her original compositions music as well as original arrangements and orchestrations of pieces by Catalan composer Frederic Mompou. The album includes stellar collaborations with Catalan singer Judit Neddermann, Sonia Olla, Ismael Fernández, John Lockwood (the legendary bassist who played with Dizzy Gillespie, Gary Burton, Pat Metheny, and Gonzalo Rubalcaba), and with the cellist Naseem Alatrash (member of the Turtle Island Quartet and 2023 Grammy nominee). With her work “Olivia,” she has performed in venues such as Jamboree in Barcelona, Sala Villanos in Madrid, and DROM in New York City. Her compositions and arrangements from the album have been awarded with the Berklee Faculty Fellowship Grant Award 2021–2022.