{"id":174738,"date":"2026-11-05T11:47:20","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T16:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=174738"},"modified":"2026-11-05T15:35:17","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T20:35:17","slug":"alisa-amador-18-on-how-bates-helped-her-build-a-career-as-a-singer-songwriter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2026\/11\/05\/alisa-amador-18-on-how-bates-helped-her-build-a-career-as-a-singer-songwriter\/","title":{"rendered":"Alisa Amador \u201918 on how Bates helped her build a career as a singer-songwriter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Singer-songwriter Alisa Amador \u201918 loves a liberal arts approach, and it didn\u2019t end for her when she graduated from Bates. While on a visit to campus this fall to perform at the Village Club Series, she participated in the \u201cBuilt by Bates\u201d video series, talking about the way her liberal arts education stays with her as she moves through the world, making her way as a professional musician. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The daughter of musicians \u2014 her parents Rosi and Brian Amador are in the Pan-Latin ensemble Sol y Canto \u2014 Amador could have easily gone to a conservatory or music school after high school. Instead she decided, during her first trip to campus, to come to Bates. \u201cMy mom looked at me and was like, \u2018This is the place, isn\u2019t it?\u2019\u201d Amador said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A performance by Alisa Amador \u201918, presented by the Village Club Series at the Benjamin Mays Center on Sept. 24. (Theophil Syslo\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI knew that something that I loved so deeply couldn\u2019t be the only thing that I studied in a formal way,\u201d Amador said. \u201cAnd I just had this instinct that what I needed was a liberal arts education.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She majored in gender and sexuality studies, and on campus, quickly became known for her extraordinary voice, its undeniable strength lit through with tenderness. Amador is also seriously persistent; when she won NPR\u2019s Tiny Desk Concert competition in 2022 it was the fifth time she\u2019d submitted an entry. Her performance of \u201cMilonga accidental\u201d<\/a> was the first Spanish-language winner in the Tiny Desk Concert competition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A performance by Alisa Amador \u201918, presented by the Village Club Series at the Benjamin Mays Center on Sept. 24. (Theophil Syslo\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Amador recorded her debut album, \u201cMultitudes,\u201d in 2024 and regularly gives live performances (This month she\u2019ll be in Ridgewood, N.Y., at TV Eye on Nov. 19 and Studio 9 at Porches Inn in North Adams, Mass., on Nov. 20).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn more about her path to \u2014 and from \u2014 Bates and how it has helped her in her journey in her full \u201cBuilt by Bates\u201d video. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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