Education at Art Song Chicago
Our 2026-2027
Vocal Chamber Music Fellow:
Isabel Liana, soprano
Isabel Liana is a civically engaged soprano and poet (The Inquisitive Typist) from Rota, Spain who “stands out for her impassioned, expressive physicality” (The New England Theatre Geek). Now based in Chicago, Isabel’s mission is to make opera and song accessible for all.
In the 2025–2026 season, Isabel debuted as Mercédès in Carmen and as Hansel in Hansel and Gretel (abridged English version) with Dayton Opera. She also appeared as the mezzo-soprano soloist with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra in Handel’s Messiah, American Soundscapes, and Mozart’s Requiem in D minor. In addition, she performed as the alto soloist in Mendelssohn’s Elijah with The Oratorio Society of Virginia. She made her recital debut with the Rochester Oratorio Society, with Niña de Tercera Cultura (Third Culture Girl), a curated program of African-American and Spanish art songs with original poetry in English and Spanish.
Her 2024–2025 season included roles in several contemporary American operas, including Whaling Women (Amelia J. Piper), This House (Zoe Walker cover), Is This America? (Ruby Doris Smith Robinson/Fannie Lou Hamer cover), and Say It Ain’t So, Joe? (Gwen Ifill).
Isabel received professional training from Cincinnati Song Initiative’s Fellowship of Song: Life’s Journey, Dayton Opera’s Artist-in-Residence Program, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’ Gerdine Young Artist Program, and Des Moines Metro Opera’s Frank R. Brownell III Apprentice Artist Program. Her notable awards and distinctions span multiple artistic disciplines and include First Prize in the 2024 Thomas Music Study Club Voice Competition, the 2024 James Weldon Johnson Foundation Artist Fellowship in Poetry and Music, and the 2023 St. Botolph Club Foundation Emerging Artist Award in Music.
Isabel holds a diploma from Longy School of Music of Bard College (Roman Totenberg Artistry Award recipient) with degrees from Azusa Pacific University (Dennis Royse Graduate Achievement and Excellence Award recipient) and Baylor University (Golden Bear Award recipient).
Isabel Liana is a name given in tribute of her late grandmother, Leona Petite Washington Randall, who sought a career as an artist then dedicated her life to educating children, in the city of New Orleans, for nearly thirty years. She hopes to use her artist name to pay homage to her grandmother, who inspired generations and taught that a dream can one day become reality through hard work and perseverance.
Photo: Meredith Hart
CCPA Partnership
During the 2026-27 season, we are thrilled to partner with Roosevelt University's Chicago College of Performing Arts.
This partnership brings CCPA artists into Art Song Chicago's educational fold - working with our artists and team to learn more about the curation of art song recitals as they grow in their careers.
Throughout the season, artists will work with Art Song Chicago staff and artists to develop, market, and perform themed art song recitals - known as Songs @ Six!
Our thanks to the piano and vocal faculty, as well as administrative staff at Chicago College of Performing Arts for renewing this partnership this year.
Songs @ Six: Echos of the Salon I - 19th C. Women in Song
Join our friends at Roosevelt University for a pastiche hour, celebrating some of the many women who had an imprint on song in the 19th century - and beyond
Vocal Chamber Fellow Project
Waiting & Weaving :
Penelope in Song
7:00 pm | Ganz Hall | Roosevelt University
Penelope: the faithful, eternally patient wife to the Odysseus in the classic Greek epics The Iliad and The Odessey, has been a popular figure in artwork of every medium since she first came to life in Homer’s text.
From Giovanni Boccaccio’s ground-breaking biography of famous women, De Mulieribus Claris, where she appears, to her popularity as a subject for pre-Raphaelite painters, to the recent staging of Margaret Atwood’s seminal feminist play The Penelopiade at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, Penelope is a character that has fascinated artists for centuries.
Join Art Song Chicago’s Vocal Chamber Music Fellow, soprano Alannah Spencer and pianist Jeremy Vigil for an exploration of this tragic figure in song. Hear songs and arias spanning the centuries - with works by Gabriel Fauré, John Musto, Claudio Monteverdi, and more.
Art Song Chicago is delighted that, as part of this project, Alannah and Jeremy will share two world-premieres written for this project by local composers Meg Huskin and Robbie Ellis.
Songs @ Six
CCPA Professional Diploma Partnership
During the 2025-26 season, Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago is thrilled to partner with Roosevelt University's Chicago College of Performing Arts.
This partnership brings CCPA's Professional Diplomatists (artists pursuing post-graduate studies in operatic voice and coaching) into CAIC's educational fold - working with our artists and team to learn more about the curation of art song recitals as they grow in their careers.
Throughout the season, these artists will work with CAIC staff and artists to develop, market, and perform two themed art song recitals.
Our thanks to the piano and vocal faculty, as well as administrative staff at Chicago College of Performing Arts for embarking on this partnership this year.
Join soprano Hayley Fox, tenor Jose Vargas Ramirez, bass-baritone Louise Floyd and pianist Paula Gelpi, CCPA's Professional Diplomatists in Opera, and CAIC for a 19th century salon experience featuring song, poetry, conversation, hors d’oeuvres, and beverages in the beautiful Sullivan Room in Roosevelt University’s Auditorium Building
Hear selections by Benjamin Britten, Francesco Paolo Tosti, Viktor Ullmann, María Grever and more!