Olli Hirvanen graduated from Sibelius Academy with a Master of Music degree and from JAMK University of Applied Sciences with a degree in music pedagogy. His teachers have included Vladimír Večtomov, Kai Nieminen, Jukka Savijoki and Ismo Eskelinen. Hirvanen has also studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music in Cardiff under the direction of John Mills.
He has given concerts in Finland as well as abroad. Hirvanen has been awarded in international guitar competitions, such as the Fernando Sor competition in Rome. Recently, Hirvanen has been involved in projects that highlight cooperation and interaction between artistic disciplines. In 2017, he was part of the music-and-dance piece Tähtiä turkin hihasta. In this project he expanded his expressive vocabulary to include movement. From year 2018 until 2021 Hirvanen worked alongside Elina Wuethrich as a producer of The Hot Box performance space.