Thereza Lituma

Chicago native, Thereza Lituma, is a senior studying voice performance and choral music education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She studies voice under the tutelage of Professor Sylvia Stone. This summer, Ms. Lituma will perform as a Young Artist with the Ad Astra Music Festival as a part of their alternative virtual summer festival.

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Most recently, Ms. Lituma was the alto soloist in Dvorak’s Stabat Mater under the direction of Andrew Megill and was the contralto soloist in Ustvolskaya’s Symphony No. 4 with the Illinois Modern Ensemble. Last season, Ms. Lituma performed the role of Lucretia in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia (Lyric Theatre at Illinois), where she was praised by The News Gazette for singing with a “sweeping emotive power.” Her past opera credits include Ježibaba/Third Wood Sprite in Dvorak’s Rusalka, the Owl in Janaček's The Cunning Little Vixen, and Albanact in Purcell’s King Arthur. She made her European debut participating in the Scuola Italia Summer Program for Young Opera Singers.

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An avid lover of choral music, Ms. Lituma is a Professional Member of the prestigious Grant Park Music Festival Chorus. She made her Grant Park debut as a 2019 Project Inclusion Voice Fellow. Ms. Lituma has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Theodore Presser Foundation Scholarship in Music, T. J. Smith Scholarship Competition, the Mary Mottl Memorial Scholarship, the Division Achievement Award in Music Education, the Sigma Alpha Iota Summer Music Scholarship, the Judy Riemenschneider Marderosian Memorial Music Scholarship, and the Mary Payne Performance Award.