Local singer-songwriter Emily Tepe, known by her stage name IVA, was classically trained at Juilliard School and The Manhattan School of Music. But she found her true musical identity when she went to Stockholm, Sweden, in 2004 on a Fulbright Scholarship to study Scandinavian classical music.
Much of her studies had involved opera, but during six years in Sweden she explored how classical music could be mixed with more popular genres. This change pervades her third album, LEAP, set for release April 30.
