Lisa Ryoo enjoys life with a multifaceted career as a teacher, performer, and entrepreneur. Based in Iowa City, Lisa is currently pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Iowa where she served as the Oboe Teaching Assistant.
Passionate about teaching students of all ages, Lisa currently teaches as the Artist Instructor of Oboe at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, and at West Music in Coralville. Her goal for her students is to nurture creative problem-solving skills, not only in music but also in everyday life, empowering students to become patient, lifelong teachers, and the best versions of themselves. Lisa is also a founding member and secretary of IOWinds Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing educational and inspirational opportunities to future generations of woodwind and brass students throughout the state of Iowa. Lisa previously taught with the Quad City Symphony Orchestra’s Private Lesson Program in Davenport.
As an active performer, Lisa has performed with the Quad City Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Iowa, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra, Cedar Rapids Municipal Band, Roanoke Symphony Orchestra and the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra. Her oboe playing is featured on the logo soundtrack for Davidson College’s WDAV Radio Station (89.9FM) in Davidson, North Carolina.
Lisa is committed to exploring new possibilities for the oboe and collaborates with her husband and saxophonist, Eugene Ryoo in their chamber ensemble, Emergence Duo. Their past projects include a co-commission in a piece called, Emergence for oboe, saxophone and piano by Jared Beu, which was premiered at the 2021 North American Saxophone Alliance Virtual Conference. In April 2022, they premiered Three Indian Folk Sketches by Anish Raj Pandit, and The Solitude of Stars arranged for tenor saxophone, oboe, and piano by Stacy Garrop. More recent commissions include Paper Year by Jenni Watson, commemorating their first wedding anniversary. In December 2023, they performed an original arrangement of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Concerto for Oboe and Violin BWV 1060R (arranged for oboe, saxophone and piano) at the World Saxophone Congress in the Canary Islands.
As a supporter of community engagement and outreach, Lisa seeks ways to unite communities both near and far through music. During her doctoral studies, Lisa created, organized, and performed programs for the community in Iowa City, including an educational program for students in 3rd grade and for local retirement and assisted living residencies. In 2018, Lisa organized and performed a benefit concert supporting the nonprofit, Educate Haiti Inc., an organization that provides living necessities and education to Haitian teachers and students. During the pandemic, Lisa premiered new works virtually with the University of Iowa’s Center for New Music, including Waves for solo oboe by Jinwon Kim (2020).
Deeply devoted to sacred music, Lisa began learning the organ during her doctoral studies at the University of Iowa. Lisa previously served as the Interim Music Director at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Iowa City during the summer of 2023.
Lisa earned her Master's of Music in Oboe Performance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and her Bachelor’s of Music in Oboe Performance from Indiana University Bloomington. During the fall of 2016, Lisa studied at the Institute for the International Education of Students Study Abroad Program in Vienna, Austria where she studied with Thomas Höniger, principal oboe of the Vienna Radio Symphony.
She is an alumnus of the Merit School of Music School in Chicago, Illinois. Lisa’s teachers include Dr. Courtney Miller, Jaren Atherholt, Roger Roe, and Linda Strommen. Lisa also has additional organ studies with Dr. Melanie Sigafoose. In her free time, Lisa enjoys playing the organ, weightlifting, and learning Korean.
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