About

Izzy Fincher is a classical guitarist based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Through her lyricism and passion for musical diversity, Izzy is establishing herself as a versatile performer of underrepresented, contemporary and traditional repertoire.

In 2023, Izzy received the Outstanding Graduating Senior Award from the University of Colorado Boulder’s College of Music. Other awards include the Mu Phi Epsilon Foundation’s Gerke Collegiate Award and the Presser Foundation’s Undergraduate Scholar Award.

Izzy is an active soloist in the Southwest region, appearing for the Boulder Guitar Society, the Colorado Guitar Festival and the University of North Texas’ Spectrum concert series. She has performed Francisco J. Nuñez’s “Four Spanish Lullabies” with the ASTER Women’s Chamber Choir and Maya Le Roux Obradovic’s “Concerto Latino.”

Izzy recorded several arrangements of George Lynn’s chamber works with Denver-based flutist Kassandra Lopez for the American Music Research Center’s George Lynn Memorial Award. She premiered new commissions by Alex Tedrow and Marcel Castro-Lima for the Twisted Spruce Music Foundation’s annual symposium in 2020 and 2021.

Izzy’s primary instructors include René Izquierdo, Adam Holzman and Nicolò Spera. She has performed in masterclasses for Solo Duo, LAGQ, Zoran Dukić, Marco Tamayo, Paul Galbraith, Antigoni Goni and Gohar Vardanyan. She is an alumni of the Aspen Music Festival and School, where she studied under Sharon Isbin; the Domaine Forget de Charlevoix Academy; and the Brevard Music Center Summer Institute.

Izzy is currently pursuing a master’s degree in classical guitar performance with a certificate in women’s and gender studies at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee under René Izquierdo. In 2023, Izzy graduated summa cum laude from CU Boulder with a B.M. in classical guitar performance, a business minor and certificates in music entrepreneurship and music theory.

Izzy is a freelance writer and journalist. She holds a B.A. in journalism from CU Boulder and was named the College of Media, Communication and Information’s William W. White Outstanding Graduate. She has been published in the Guitar Foundation of America’s Soundboard magazine; the CU Independent, CU Boulder’s award-winning student newspaper; and Sharps & Flatirons, Boulder’s independent classical music blog.

Her undergraduate honors thesis, “An examination of mainstream media’s treatment of female guitarists,” has been published in the Journal of Popular Music Studies. She has presented her research at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, the UW-Madison Women’s and Gender Studies Consortium, the Guitar Foundation of America and the International Communication Association Conference.