Liisa Dávila has gained recognition for her vocal clarity and dazzling coloratura, combined with a richness and depth allowing her to possess a highly desired level of versatility in her work. Heard recently as Kitty Hart in Fresno Grand Opera’s critically acclaimed performance of Dead Man Walking, Liisa was also recently seen as Liù in West Bay Opera’s production of Turandot, where “her simple, understated Liù made major contributions to the production” (San Francisco Classical Voice). LA Splash also complimented her performance, saying Liisa “charmed rather than dominated. Her lovely clear soprano was spell-binding in both her arias.” She has also performed as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Violetta in La Traviata, Poppea in L’incoronazione di Poppea, Hanna Glawari in The Merry Widow, Micaëla in Carmen, and the title role in Massenet’s Cendrillon. Other roles in her repertoire include Mimi in La bohème and Juliette in Romeo et Juliette. Of her performance as Erste Dame in Die Zauberflöte with West Bay Opera, the San Francisco Classical Voice claimed Liisa (along with fellow Ladies Molly Mahoney and Michelle Rice) opened the opera “with the most sublime singing of the three-hour performance.”
Liisa’s concert work includes performances as a soprano soloist with organizations including MidAmerica Productions, Music in the Mountains Festival, Auburn Symphony, Gallo Center for the Arts, Bear Valley Music Festival, and the Academy of All Hallows. Her repertoire includes traditional and contemporary works, such as Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Mendelssohn’s Christmas Oratorio, the Mozart C Minor Mass and Vespers Solemnes, Handel’s Messiah, the Vivaldi Gloria, and the Requiems by Rutter, Duruflé, Mozart, and Fauré. An advocate of new music, Liisa premiered the concert role of Shamiram in Ninos and Shamiram by French composer Michel Bosc, performed in Assyrian for the The Assyrian Aid Society of America’s Fourth Annual Mesopotamian Night.
A winner of multiple competitions, Liisa was a San Francisco District winner and a Western Regional Finalist for the Metropolitan National Council Auditions and a winner of the prestigious Maria and Ben Holt Scholarship. In 2010 she won the First International Phyllis Osterhout Vocal Competition, placed third in the Washington International Vocal Competition in Washington, DC, and was a semi-finalist for the Loren L. Zachary Competition.
Liisa’s training includes participation in internationally recognized programs such as OperaWorks’ Advanced Artist Program, the Pacific Opera Institute, Sherill Milnes’ V.O.I.C.Experience ‘Opera as Drama’ program, and the International Festival of the Aegean’s Greek Opera Studio. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from California State University, Sacramento.
