Meet Isabelle!

Born in San Diego, CA and raised in Chapel Hill, NC, Isabelle is a half Taiwanese-half Irish musician who sings, composes, and plays guitar & piano. Isabelle graduated from Atlanta's Emory University in 2017 with a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies. She is currently based in Brooklyn, NY as a music teaching artist in local public schools across the 5 boroughs and as a children's songwriting teacher. She loves spending her free time jamming all around the city, dancing, reading, learning new languages, exploring parks, meditating, and making collages! She is grateful to have been able to live and learn in Nicaragua, Cuba, Indonesia, Spain, and Taiwan, expanding her perspectives to incorporate the richness of diverse global communities & cultures. 

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One of my names is Dao-Ahn, 道安. It comes from an ancient book of names my Taiwanese ancestors penned centuries ago. The first character in my name is 道, Dao, that of the great wisdom tradition of Daoism. I have come to see my life as my ever-unfolding path, my 道, my beloved masterpiece. My Dao is an exploration meandering at its own pace, and I have always tread it by following the music.

Music is my greatest love, and singing is my greatest joy. Singing is breathwork, a practice of putting our inner world to sound, of inhaling and exhaling with intention. In my many years of chorus classes, I always learned to sit with tall, aligned posture in order to breathe deeply and sing with strength.

Singing communally can awaken a special type of unity, like being in a school of fish or a murmuration, being one atom in something bigger than yourself. Music makes me feel held, wrapped in sound, as my voice, the most personal instrument that I’ve carried with me all my life, flows out from within to join the sonic world. Its magic can happen anywhere and anytime– it is always there for you.