“One of the most subtle performances I can recall, splendidly sung and totally alive to the text.” Lisa Newill-Smith performs operatic roles, concert works, and solo pieces from the dramatic coloratura and contemporary music repertoire, with a focus on works by women and gender non-conforming composers. She is also a writer and has written short stories, libretti, scripts, and long-form content, and is working on her first novel.

Since 2020, Lisa has worked as a writer, freelancing as a content writer and editor, copywriter, and content editor. As a writer, Lisa's strength lies in simplifying complex topics into easy-to-understand blogs. This was a skill she honed while writing for Precision Content, where she was quickly promoted to Junior Editor and Lead Writer. While at PrecisionContent, Lisa wrote a series of blogs about AWS, tailored to business owners with little to no tech knowledge, and stem cell research. She also became the go-to person on the team for blogs about complex topics like new treatments for TBIs, legal questions in the US, and new scientific research, using SEMRush and SEO Surfer to improve SEO results.

Outside of content writing, Lisa also loves exploring fiction. Her short stories have been long-listed in several competitions, and she has collaborated with composers to create pieces using her short stories. Additionally, she is working on a sci-fi/fantasy novel, the first in a planned set of three.

Lisa has often combined her love of writing and music. While doing an internship in development at the Choral Arts Society, Washington, D.C., she gained experience crafting emails and newsletters to potential donors, including ambassadors and large companies like Bacardi. She worked closely with the head of development to plan and fund the society’s annual fundraiser, which raised over $600,000 for the organization.

Lisa is also an advocate of performing works by women composers from throughout history. During the pandemic, she performed several livestream concerts and later became a performance artist with Sparrow Live. Additionally, she has a blog, which features performances and articles about women composers and provides information on how to access their music.

As a singer, Lisa has managed her own publicity and regularly uses Canva to create portfolios, social media posts, and posters for concerts. In 2024/25, Lisa sang in the John Cage Workshop, participated in the Impuls festival, and premiered new works in chamber concerts at Theater Vorpommern and in Lucca with Oltremusic. She also premiered works at Carmac in Berlin and performed Schonthal's masterpiece "Totengesänge" again in Tegel.

Last season, Lisa premiered the short opera “Nacht” (Bohnenberger) in Staatstheater Kassel’s “Davon geht die Welt ____ unter” festival and jumped in to sing in the last performance of "Der leuchtende Punkt" at Theater Vorpommern. She also took part in the Call For Young Performers initiative with Milan-based Divertimento in a chamber concert at Theater Vorpommern, “Alma Mahler und Ihre Männer,” and was a performance fellow in the Cortona Sessions.

2022/2023 included performances of Ullmann’s Voice, Books and FIRE, and Oliveros’ Sonic Meditations with Phoenix16 at Maerzmusik, and “Deutsche Komponistinnen Kammerkonzert” at Theater Vorpommern. Lisa was also a semi-finalist in the John Cage Award 2023 and took part in the Words on Music course at the Darmstadt Summer Course. In 2021/22, Lisa debuted as a dramatic coloratura with Donna Anna. Previously, she performed lyric and soubrette roles. Her operatic highlights include Donna Elvira, Echo, Gretel, and Helene (Hin und Zurück). Lisa has performed at the Louvre and the Xenakis Festival at ATONAL Berlin with Phoenix16. Her world premieres include Capriccio (Rylan Gleave), Queen Gwenevere (Merlin, Beal), Young Woman (Absolved Passions, Wishart), Mauer Broadcast (Bielawa), and Winter Sun (Wishart).