|
After graduating from The University of Cincinnati, CCM and Westminster Choir College, Liz moved to the Syracuse area and began studying with Katherine Ciesinski at the Eastman School of Music. In the 2011-2012 season, he sang in Syracuse Opera’s La Traviata (Flora) and Madama Butterfly (Kate Pinkerton), and as the alto soloist for Sackets Harbor Vocal Arts Ensemble’s Messiah and Elijah.
During these years, Liz developed a passion for performing music by living composers. In 2011 he sang in a premier of Persis Vehar’s Eleanor with The Society for New Music in Syracuse. In 2013 he co-commissioned Dominick DiOrio’s Flames Will Grow with his sister, saxophonist Allison Adams, and premiered the work at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. In 2014 Liz recorded Is Paris Burning? with The Center for Contemporary Opera and workshopped Larry Lipkis’s new opera Simonetta. That summer, he attended Songfest in Los Angeles where he had the pleasure of working with composers William Bolcom, Jake Heggie, and Libby Larsen. |
Mrs. Turing in TURING Anonymous Ensemble, 2017 photo by JILL STEINBERG
|
Liz relocated to New York City soon after. Important debuts followed: Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos and Lucretia in The Rape of Lucretia with Utopia Opera, and as Amparo in Dell’Arte Opera Ensemble’s production of Hiram Titus’ Rosina. Liz spent July 2016, with Pittsburgh Opera Theater where he covered the title role in Carmen the Gypsy and was featured as the bellboy Rudy in Night Caps, a collection of chamber operas by living composers.
Liz often lends his voice to new multi-media projects. His singing can also be heard in Mary Helena Clark’s award-winning experimental film Palms, which has been screened nationally and internationally. Liz’s songs are featured in new video art under production from the artist Wenhua Shi. With historian Courtney Fullilove, Liz created vocals to accompany a multi-media piece, The Flora Sibirica, at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, Germany in 2016. In October 2017, he sang a duet with a computer-generated voice as Mrs. Turing in a workshop of a new opera, Turing, with Anonymous Ensemble at Brooklyn’s National Sawdust.
During the 2017-2018 season, Opera News praised Liz’s “impressive firmly-grounded contralto” as the cast-aside but merciful wife, Augusta Tabor, in Utopia Opera’s production of The Ballad of Baby Doe. Liz’s portrayal of Fosca in Sondheim’s Passion, also with Utopia Opera earned glowing reviews. With the composer/librettist team Felix Jarrar and Bea (Brittany) Goodwin Liz premiered two new roles: Mrs. Cratchit in Gramercy Opera’s A Christmas Carol: The Opera and Tristan Tzara in Tabula Rasa. The creative team wrote Tzara specifically with Liz in mind – to coincide with his own public coming out as a trans-man: his aria celebrates new beginnings, breaking from convention, and the power of the creative spirit.
When he’s not singing, Liz can be found practicing yoga, sunbathing, biking along the Hudson, or taking a drive in his pick-up truck.
Liz often lends his voice to new multi-media projects. His singing can also be heard in Mary Helena Clark’s award-winning experimental film Palms, which has been screened nationally and internationally. Liz’s songs are featured in new video art under production from the artist Wenhua Shi. With historian Courtney Fullilove, Liz created vocals to accompany a multi-media piece, The Flora Sibirica, at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, Germany in 2016. In October 2017, he sang a duet with a computer-generated voice as Mrs. Turing in a workshop of a new opera, Turing, with Anonymous Ensemble at Brooklyn’s National Sawdust.
During the 2017-2018 season, Opera News praised Liz’s “impressive firmly-grounded contralto” as the cast-aside but merciful wife, Augusta Tabor, in Utopia Opera’s production of The Ballad of Baby Doe. Liz’s portrayal of Fosca in Sondheim’s Passion, also with Utopia Opera earned glowing reviews. With the composer/librettist team Felix Jarrar and Bea (Brittany) Goodwin Liz premiered two new roles: Mrs. Cratchit in Gramercy Opera’s A Christmas Carol: The Opera and Tristan Tzara in Tabula Rasa. The creative team wrote Tzara specifically with Liz in mind – to coincide with his own public coming out as a trans-man: his aria celebrates new beginnings, breaking from convention, and the power of the creative spirit.
When he’s not singing, Liz can be found practicing yoga, sunbathing, biking along the Hudson, or taking a drive in his pick-up truck.