Greetings!

Thank you for stopping by for the Liz Cass experience! As you’ll see, I wear several different hats and they all serve the purpose of getting more art and creativity into our world. In addition to singing professionally, I am the Founding Executive Producer of the award-winning LOLA, Local Opera Local Artists, I serve as the Executive Director of the Armstrong Community Music School where I have also been on the faculty since 2004! I serve as President of the Seagle Festival Alumni Association Board, Secretary of the Austin Classical Guitar Board and as a member of the KMFA 89.5 Community Advisory Board. Plus I am the host of both, Bird of the Day and Bird of the Day of the Week and a regular contributor to My Talented Friends Live. I’ve been a professional singer and voice teacher for over 20 years and I’ve got 19+ years of arts administration under my belt! You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube for rich and diverse artistic and comedic content.

With LOVE,

Liz Cass, Mezzo-Soprano, Producer, Educator, Arts Leader

Liz Cass is a producer, educator, arts leader, and active operatic performer based in Austin, Texas. She is the founder and executive producer of the award-winning opera company LOLA (Local Opera Local Artists), and executive director of the Armstrong Community Music School. A passionate advocate for the arts, Liz is president of the Seagle Festival Alumni Association, secretary of Austin Classical Guitar and a member of the community advisory board of KMFA 89.5, Austin’s classical music radio station.

Equally at home in opera and beyond, Liz has appeared in the roles of Mrs. Lowe and Dora, the Bartender in Kevin Puts’ The Manchurian Candidate with Austin Opera, and as soloist in Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody with Chorus Austin. She has presented a program of French art song for Songs in the Skyspace, the monthly music series of Landmarks at the University of Texas, and was featured in Austin Chamber Music Center’s Blue Bash annual fundraising gala. In Guatemala, she appeared as soloist in Handel’s Messiah at Centro Cultural Miguel Ángel Asturias in Guatemala City and at Casa Santo Domingo in Antigua.

Having appeared in several notable world premiere performances, Liz continually champions new vocal works. In 2019, she premiered the mezzo role in Graham Reynolds’ English and Spanish cross-border opera Pancho Villa From a Safe Distance, for which she garnered the Best Singer award from Austin Critics Table. She also performed Pancho Villa at the PuSh Festival in Vancouver and the PROTOTYPE Festival in New York City. Collaborating with composer Peter Stopschinski and playwright Terry Galloway, LOLA commissioned the opera Lardo Weeping in 2018, based on Galloway’s one-woman play. Fully staged in August 2022, Liz’s tour de force performance as Dinah LeFarge was nominated for the 2021-22 B. Iden Payne Outstanding Lead Performance award, while Lardo Weeping was nominated for an additional twelve awards. Also in 2022, Liz premiered Donald Grantham’s song cycle Love Songs Sweet and Sour, with pianist Carla McElhaney.

Liz began her vocal studies with Dr. Rebecca Folsom. She is a graduate of the University of Missouri at Kansas City Conservatory of Music, where she received her degree in Vocal Performance with renowned professor Inci Bashar.

 -bio edited by Sonja Larson