Liana is a mixed-black, queer musician and educator who has forged her own path through the music world. Raised in suburbia just north of Seattle, she first picked up the trumpet as a member of the 5th-grade band, and thus began her journey.

She quickly developed a deep passion for music and picked up the guitar and bass in the early 1990’s, beginning a decades-long adventure of playing, teaching, and performing on a multitude of instruments. Most recently, she spent the pandemic adding clawhammer banjo to the toolbox!

Her love of music led her to and through higher education, then on to a career as a freelance trumpet player. This adventure took her from the Pacific Northwest to New England, and eventually back to Seattle in 2007. Upon returning home, she reimagined herself as a low brass player and began gigging on trombone, euphonium, and tuba in ensembles of all genres: from orchestras and chamber music to jazz, funk and rock.

A life-long educator, Liana has been teaching private lessons on various instruments since she was a teenager and she developed a comprehensive 6-12th grade music curriculum during her 13 years as a band director at a small independent school in Seattle. As a mentor, Liana takes pride in finding just the right balance between fun and hard work, and she delights in guiding students toward finding and following their own path through the world.

On this leg of her journey, Liana has settled back into the northern suburbs of Seattle, where she lives with her trumpet-playing wife, their son, and 2 dogs: Maya & Indie. You can find her on stages in the greater Seattle area most often with The Panda Conspiracy and The Together Collective.