ARMSTRONG COMMUNITY MUSIC SCHOOL STAFF
Office: (512) 474-2331

Liz Cass
Executive Director

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.

Dr. Rachel McInturff
Director of Finance and Administration

Heather Arnos
Director of Development

Jackie Platt
Director of Programs

Terry Muir
Finance and Regsitrar Manager

Elayne Harris
Programs Manager

Carlee Abschneider, Amy Herman, Holton Johnson, Nicole Taylor and Will Krause
Registrars

Jared Jenkins
Facility Manager

Mailing Address
Armstrong Community Music School
3267 Bee Caves Road
Suite 107, PMB 82
Austin, TX 78746