“My mission is to foster a learning centered environment encompassing the development of skill, self-expression, and artistry.
I seek to build bridges through performing, teaching, and collaborative leadership.”
Dr. Ivy Walz is a higher education leader, vocal pedagogue, and engaged scholar whose work explores how community-engaged arts practice creates meaningful learning experiences, strengthens communities, and advances faculty scholarship.
Dr. Ivy Walz is the Associate Dean for Faculty, Research, Creativity, and Outreach at the J.T. & Margaret Talkington College of Visual and Performing Arts at Texas Tech. Her main responsibilities include supporting faculty and their creative activity and research, community outreach & engagement, tenure and promotion processes, and collaborating on accreditation for the Schools of the College. She also supervises scholarships and graduate fellowships.
Her most recent role before joining Texas Tech was Associate Dean for the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance at Ithaca College. Her leadership experience includes interim roles and training such as the HERS Leadership Institute. She seeks to build bridges through collaborative leadership, teaching, and performing, fostering a learning centered environment that encompasses the development of skill, self-expression, and artistry.
Dr. Ivy Walz holds the BM ('98) in Music Education and Performance, MM ('02) in Vocal Performance from Ithaca College, and the DMA ('14) in Voice Performance with a cognate in Vocal Pedagogy from the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati.
Community-Engaged Arts & Scholarship
Supporting faculty in designing and evaluating community-engaged creative activity.
Vocal Pedagogy Practicum
A replicable model connecting vocal pedagogy students with community learners.
Faculty Impact Statements Toolkit
Developing practical frameworks to help faculty articulate scholarly, creative, and community impact.
In 2024, I was invited to perform with colleagues from the Texas Tech School of Music at the National Center for the Arts (CENART) in Mexico City. The recital, presented on August 30, was titled Del Otro Lado del Muro: Una Noche de Música sin Fronteras ("On the Other Side of the Wall: A Night of Music Without Borders"). As we carefully selected repertoire for the program, our guiding theme became music's extraordinary ability to transcend geographical boundaries, creating opportunities to connect cultures, traditions, emotions, and even foster peace.
I had the distinct honor of performing Roberto Sierra's Julia on that program, with Becca Zeisler as my collaborator. As I immersed myself in the poetry and legacy of Julia de Burgos, I was deeply moved by both her artistic voice and personal story. Sierra's settings captivated me from the beginning, and even after multiple performances of the cycle, I continue to discover new ways of inhabiting these remarkable songs. His musical language offers endless opportunities for nuance, expression, and connection.
My exploration of Julia sparked a new area of inquiry: contemporary and twenty-first-century art song on Spanish-language texts. As I navigated a cross-country move and a season of significant personal and professional transition, it felt like the perfect moment to open new artistic doors.
That inquiry soon led me to the beautiful and poignant song cycle Cinco canciones con los ojos cerrados (2011) by composer Miguel A. Roig-Francolí, set to poems by Antonio Colinas. I was already familiar with the acclaimed premiere performed in 2013 by colleagues at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, a performance I greatly admired. Inspired by the work, I wrote to Miguel to request the score. He warmly embraced the idea of a mezzo-soprano performing the cycle and, at my request, generously made several adjustments to better suit my voice.
As I began preparing the songs, I found myself drawn into their rich melodic and harmonic architecture. Through Roig-Francolí's music, vivid imagery, colors, and emotional subtleties emerged, providing countless opportunities to communicate the depth and beauty of Colinas's poetry.
Becca Zeisler and I performed Cinco canciones con los ojos cerrados on several occasions during 2025 and 2026, culminating in a recital titled Sueños nocturnos por la paz: Night Dreams for Peace, presented at CENART in Mexico City on January 31, 2026. This invitation grew directly from the relationships and artistic collaborations established through our 2024 appearance at the center. The performance was particularly well received, and many audience members cited these songs as a highlight of the evening. Shortly thereafter, we recorded the cycle at Texas Tech University in February 2026.
Composer Miguel A. Roig-Francolí writes of the work:
"The poetry of Antonio Colinas (b. 1946), one of the leading Spanish poets of my generation, and an old friend of mine, features numerous aspects in common with my own musical and artistic interests: concern with form and detail of craft, respect for and reliance on the past, rejection of avant-garde excesses, asymmetrical and uneven rhythms and meters, interest in meditative moods, in the infinite, in light.
Colinas' verses are masterfully crafted, highly expressive, and essentially musical, as demonstrated by his set Five Songs with Closed Eyes. My own songs on these poems by Colinas came out of the verses in a flowing, natural, and almost effortless way, always following the text very closely. I simply brought out my musical vision of these poems, or my hearing of the music that sounds in them. I particularly enjoyed the challenge of engaging musically with the free verse lengths and meters, the depth of content, and the great variety of moods, colors, and meanings afforded by this compelling poetry, already considered classical in Spanish literature."
In many ways, the seeds of this project were planted long ago. Throughout my career, I have been drawn to the rich and expansive traditions of Spanish and Latin American art song, a repertoire of remarkable beauty, depth, and cultural significance. This recording represents both a continuation of that journey and the beginning of new artistic explorations. I invite fellow musicians, scholars, and listeners to join me in studying, performing, and promoting this repertoire so that its power to transcend borders, build understanding, and foster human connection may continue to reach new audiences.
In addition to her administrative duties Dr. Ivy Walz continues as a robust vocal educator dedicated to serving all learners and is widely experienced in teaching classical and contemporary singing styles. She incorporates integrative pedagogies and approaches towards development of techniques that support longevity, artistry, joy, and wellbeing.
She has served on the voice faculties at Ithaca College, the State University of New York at Cortland, and Cornell University as well as her current post as Associate Professor of Voice at Texas Tech University with her application for Full Professor currently under review.
Her students have gone on to top graduate programs, are currently teaching in k-12, community arts programs, as well as in higher education.
She is a regularly invited guest clinician for preparatory programs, community choruses, schools, colleges, professional associations, and universities.
Mezzo-soprano Ivy Walz has been featured with the Spoleto Festival, Cincinnati Opera, Syracuse Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, and the Tri-Cities Opera as well as numerous other venues nationally and internationally.
She is an active soloist with orchestras and chamber music groups, featured recently with the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes, Akron Symphony, Symphoria, the Binghamton Philharmonic, the Eastern Connecticut Symphony and the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra.
As a scholar of contemporary art song repertoire her invited performances include the National Center for the Arts (CENART), Mexico City, International Music by Women Festival, SongFest, Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar, Finger Lakes Chamber Ensemble, Cincinnati Song Initiative, Denver Art Song Project, Civic Morning Musicals, and Middlebury Song Fest.
Recently in 2025 she premiered “Look Twice” a song cycle by the contemporary composer Juliana Hall:
