Originally from Äänekoski, Olli Hirvanen began his music studies on cello at the age of five and switched to guitar four years later. He graduated as Master of Music from the Sibelius Academy in 2010, having earlier completed his Bachelor of Music Pedagogy at Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences. His teachers have included Vladimir Vectomov, Kai Nieminen, Jukka Savijoki, and Ismo Eskelinen.
Hirvanen also studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff under John Mills, and has attended masterclasses with Paul Galbraith, Thomas Müller-Pering, Lorenzo Micheli, and Vladimir Mikulka, among others.
He has given solo concerts and collaborated extensively with other instrumentalists and singers (including Juha Kotilainen). In addition to performing in Finland, Hirvanen has appeared in the UK, Spain, Italy, and Estonia. He has been awarded prizes in international guitar competitions in Finland and abroad, including the Nordic Guitar Competition in Jyväskylä in 2005 (shared 2nd prize), the International Mottola Guitar Competition in 2003 (2nd prize), and the Fernando Sor Competition in Rome in 1999 (2nd prize).
In recent years, Hirvanen has been involved in projects emphasizing interdisciplinary collaboration and interaction. These include the children’s dance fairy tale The Best Bellybutton in the World with dancer Anna-Kaisa Hirvanen (based on Hannele Huovi’s book), as well as Story Massage workshops in schools and kindergartens in Central Finland (2015–2016). In the sound and movement work Stars from the Fur Sleeve (with dancer-choreographer Elina Wuethrich, premiered in 2017), Hirvanen expanded his role from musician to include dance.
Between 2018 and 2021, Hirvanen co-produced the interdisciplinary The Hot Box online art space together with Elina Wuethrich. He also performed as a musician in several of its live-streamed productions and composed the music for Tensions by Maria Oiva and Topi Kohonen, which was part of the Jyväskylä Festival 2020 programme. The Hot Box concept was a wooden cube from which around thirty live-streamed performances by artists from different fields were broadcast over three years.
In 2022, Hirvanen released the recording A Due with flautist-poet Johanna Kärkkäinen and poet-author Johanna Venho. The album contains premiere recordings of new Finnish music for flute and guitar inspired by poetry. It was well received, with Yle’s Uudet levyt programme describing it as “a successful polyphonic sound poem” (Aki Yli-Salomäki).
In autumn 2023, Hirvanen worked with a four-month grant from Taike, which enabled him to compose for Duo Palo, prepare for the Tampere Biennale 2024, and collaborate with Ukrainian countertenor Stanislav Kriuchkov as well as the recorder ensemble Flauto Dolce Vita.
In 2023, singer Suvi Uura and Olli Hirvanen founded Duo Palo, creating original music influenced by folk, art, and flamenco traditions.