PHOTO BY DANIELLA VALE

Lilly Abreu sits onstage, beaming. Her accompanist, Eric Susoeff, strums the opening chords of “Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars” at Uncorked, a jazz restaurant in Sharpsburg.

Abreu unleashes her soft soprano. By the end of the first set, she sambas with some fans, including a bride and members of her bachelorette party.

For three decades Abreu, of Highland Park, has shared her love of music and her Brazilian heritage in Pittsburgh’s cultural scene and academic halls. She’s also helped immigrants and refugees navigate the English language. The linguist and teacher founded a group, Self-Advocacy Voices, to help adults with disabilities speak up for themselves.

Highlighting her career is a special art exhibit, “Path of Liberty: That Which Unites Us,” running through Labor Day at Freedom Plaza in New York City. A prelude to the nation’s 250th birthday, the art installation on 6 acres of Manhattan’s East Side showcases 50 Americans, reflecting a diversity of backgrounds, beliefs and experiences.

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The display also includes Samuel Black, director of the African American Program at the Heinz History Center, and Tom Reinheimer, marketing director of the Duquesne Incline. On 15-foot-by-20-foot screens, they capture what it means to be an American.

“Each screen is a window into the lives of these Americans, so I wanted to highlight Lilly and her passion for music,” says former Pittsburgher Daniella Vale, the artist who directed and filmed the exhibit that’s hosted by the Soloviev Foundation. “That’s something she really embodies — sharing her culture and giving back to the community.”

Abreu was born in Portland, Maine; her Brazilian father performed his medical residency in cities in the United States, including Pittsburgh. The family lived in Penn Hills when he moved to Shadyside Hospital. Then they moved back to Brazil when she was 5.

Her father performed surgery in Brazil on patients who often could not afford his care. “It was not about the money,” Abreu says. “It was about saving lives.” Her father serves as a wellspring for her compassion.

Abreu later married, and her husband unilaterally took a job in a remote city in Brazil known for soybeans — but not its music scene. She worked for the city teaching music and sometimes performing, but that created tension in her marriage.

This marked a turning point. Her artistry stifled — until Abreu stood up for her music. She and her daughter, Thais, and son, Rafael, started over in Rio de Janeiro. The couple divorced.

“I had to follow my heart,” Abreu says.

Her career blossomed. She dubbed for “Disney on Ice” and films such as “Beauty and the Beast,” “Pocahontas” and “Aladdin.” She sang operas and jingles, in a TV comedy and in a pop quintet. Abreu sometimes worked four gigs a day, changing clothes in a cab for the next show — but she says she barely made ends meet.

Brazil’s economy was tanking, so Abreu moved with her children to Pittsburgh and pursued a master’s degree in voice at Carnegie Mellon University.

It was another challenge in a lifetime of challenges. In the years she earned her degree, she cleaned houses in Pittsburgh. ”I never had to clean a house before. I had a maid [in Brazil],” she says. “I approached it as a skill to be learned so I could ensure my kids were taken care of.”

Since graduating in 1998, she has taught voice at CMU and sung in about 40 operas with the Pittsburgh Opera chorus. She has performed hundreds of gigs of Brazilian and Broadway music, jazz and classical concerts. She recorded six CDs, including four as a soloist.

Having also worked as a Portuguese interpreter for Global Wordsmiths, Abreu now provides training to new participants. Interpreters accompany immigrants to vital appointments, such as doctor’s visits and teacher conferences.

Abreu taught music at the Notes from the Heart music camp for youths with disabilities at The Woodlands in Wexford. “She treats her students equally, meeting her students where they’re at,” says Tina Calabro, a disability-rights writer whose son was taught by Abreu.

Abreu founded Self-Advocacy Voices to break the isolation of the pandemic by getting adults with disabilities together online. It aims to empower individuals to express their interests, passions, knowledge and experiences through public speaking.

Anne Alter, who has schizophrenia, joined the organization and has taken voice lessons from Abreu. “Her gentle leadership has led me along on my mental-health journey to achieve things I never thought possible,” she says.

Abreu is planning a concert, to be performed next year, that would fuse visual art with classical, pop and Brazilian music. Accompanied by piano and eight cellos, she would sing familiar pieces and “Borealis,” a world premiere by Chilean composer Boris Alvarado. And Abreu would perform in four languages and dance.

“It’s almost a depiction of my musical life,” she says.