Isabel Lepanto Gleicher (also known as Izzy) is an acclaimed flutist, composer, and visual artist, lauded by The New York Times as "excellent," with composer John Zorn describing her as "inspiring" and "stunningly musical." As an artist member of several new music ensembles, including the International Contemporary Ensemble, Wild Up, and Ensemble Echappe, Isabel has made a significant impact in the contemporary music scene. She is also a member of the conductorless orchestra One Found Sound, woodwind quintet Sylvan Winds, and the hip-hop band ShoutHouse. Isabel also works for Project Music Heals Us, a nonprofit bringing music to people in hospitals, prisons, and isolated international communities.

Isabel’s performances span prestigious events like the MET Gala with Lizzo, NPR’s Tiny Desk, Lincoln Center Summer for the City, and festivals such as Big Ears, Guggenheim Museum's Works and Process Series, TME:SPANS, SONIC MATTER, Sacrum Profanum, and the premiere of TV show Power season 5 in the orchestra for 50 Cent. Her repertoire includes premieres of works by notable composers like Missy Mazzoli, Nathalie Joachim, Du Yun, Steve Reich, Jon Batiste, Beat Furrer, and John Zorn. You can hear Isabel on numerous recordings, including Wild Up’s Grammy-nominated albums Julius Eastman Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Aequa, synth driven post-rock band Infinity Shred’s Shred Offline, and Indie rock band San Fermin’s The Cormorant and Jackrabbit.  

Isabel’s compositional style blends composed and improvised elements through graphic and text notation, reflecting the synergy between her musical and visual arts practices. She has curated solo performances for Miller Theatre’s Pop Up series, Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival, Experimental Sound Studio, and the ChamberQUEERantine Virtual Festival, contributing to the Metropolis ensemble's live-streaming installation, Flame Keepers. 

Active as an educator, Isabel is the flute professor at SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music. She has worked with the Bridge Arts Ensemble in the Adirondacks  and the American Composers Orchestra at Brooklyn’s Fort Hamilton High School. She held a one year position with New York Philharmonic Education as a teaching artist, teaching 3rd grade. Isabel has conducted flute and chamber music master classes, and workshops in experimental music at the Florida International University, Florida State University, University of Kansas, DePauw University, University of Nebraska, SUNY Purchase, University of Massachusetts and at the Texas Flute Festival. She has also collaborated with many composition departments, performing young student composers’ pieces from the Third Street Music School Settlement, Face the Music, Luna Composition Lab, the Music Advancement Program at the Juilliard School and the Very Young Composers program at the New York Philharmonic. Isabel, alongside her colleagues in the International Contemporary Ensemble, is guest faculty at the Walden School Music Camp. Isabel holds an MM in Contemporary Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, an MM from the Yale School of Music, and a BM from SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music. Her primary teachers have included Tara Helen O’Connor, Ransom Wilson and Tanya Dusevic Witek. 

In the summer of 2023, Izzy competed on the 25th Season of the CBS Reality TV Show Big Brother. She was evicted by an 8 - 1 vote on day 44 wearing a pig costume. In the spring of 2025 she competed on the 38th Season of The Amazing Race alongside her wife Paige Seber. They finished in 4th place making them the highest placing lesbian couple in the show's history.