About elias wolf / Lisa Forkish

elias wolf (they/them) is a heart-forward, moon-guided, water-bound singer-composer, teacher, vocal director and arranger, improviser, abolitionist, community-weaver, and spirited world-builder creating music and shared spaces—stewarding what they call “re-humanizing queer song alchemy for the revolution.” Practicing interdependence through harmony-singing, elias has been at the musical helm of over 15 choirs and vocal groups over the past 20+ years, and for them, teaching and facilitating music spaces is much more than a job: it is a sacred calling. elias works with song as an artistic discipline while maintaining its capacity for profound personal and interpersonal healing. An artist deeply attuned to collective presence, elias embodies warmth, grace and humor – whether it be at a festival with hundreds of participants, diving deep with 12 singers, or finding tenderness in a 1:1 session.

From ‘11-’20, elias served as Vocal Music Faculty at Oakland School for the Arts where they founded and directed five-time national champion high school a cappella group, Vocal Rush. Known for their unique arrangements, uplifting performances and commitment to music for social change, Vocal Rush took third place on NBCʻs reality competition show “The Sing-Off” and was named one of the “YBCA 100” alongside artists and activists Janelle Monae, Rafael Casal and #metoo movement founder, Tarana Burke.  elias is the recipient of the Mason McDuffie Education Foundation Award for “Outstanding Educator,” Portland’s “Songwriter of the Year” award, and was one of the 2024 recipients of Lane Arts Council’s project grants, funding a queer youth a cappella program in Lane County called RISE. ​​elias is an award-winning vocal arranger and educator, and their work has been showcased alongside Kehlani, Ben Harper, Pentatonix and the Oakland Symphony Chorus. elias’ stint as director of University of Oregon’s a cappella group Divisi from ‘03-’06 was the inspiration for the film “Pitch Perfect” and from ’12-’19 they stewarded a 501(c)(3) arts advocacy organization devoted to uplifting marginalized voices in the vocal music scene and producing an annual festival at Berkeley’s iconic venue and education center, Freight & Salvage.

A graduate of Berklee College of Music, elias first combined music and social justice while an undergraduate student, chairing Musicians Against Sexual Violence and leading the community in their first ever “Take Back the Night” rally. elias is passionate about creating intergenerational spaces for queer, trans and gender-expansive singers, as they have done with Eugene’s Queer Choir and HomoPhonic.  A performer for over 25 years, elias has appeared on storied stages including SFJAZZ Center, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Yoshi’s, both solo and with acclaimed vocal groups. A dynamic performer and tender of collective energy, elias is most alive when the line between artist and audience dissolves into something shared, intimate, and electric. As a singer-songwriter and live looper, elias weaves lush, dissonant harmonies with lyrics forged in the raw ache of their own transformation, writing with blood, breath and devotion. Formerly releasing their music under the name Lisa Forkish, elias has five albums to their name and is currently recording their next release, to the water, arriving 6/26/26. 

elias identifies identifies as a genderqueer white-bodied witch with the superpowers of ADHD and high sensitivity, as well as the gifts of being a Cancer Rising and Sun with a 1st and 12th house cusp. elias is currently a settler on unceded Kalapuya land where they live with their sweet chihuahua mix rescue pup Wally and their Yamaha upright piano.

Elias Wolf CV