Lisa Ryoo finds joy in music as a teacher, performer, and entrepreneur.
Based in Macomb, Illinois, Lisa currently teaches online and in-person lessons to students of all ages through her private studio and through West Music. Her primary objective is to foster creative problem-solving skills in her students, not only in music but also in their everyday lives. By empowering them to become patient, lifelong teachers and learners, Lisa aims to equip her students with valuable life lessons and critical thinking strategies. Prior to relocating to Illinois, Lisa served as the Artist Instructor of Oboe at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, for 6 years, and taught with the Quad City Symphony Orchestra’s Private Lesson Program in Davenport.
Outside of teaching, Lisa is a dedicated founding member and marketing director of IOWinds Alliance, a nonprofit organization that provides educational and inspirational opportunities to future generations of woodwind and brass students throughout the state of Iowa.
Lisa has performed with orchestras such as 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.
Lisa collaborates with her husband, saxophonist Eugene Ryoo, in their chamber ensemble, Emergence Duo. They performed the North American premiere of Three Country Dances, a work by Ignatius Sancho, and its arrangement by Althea Talbot-Howard, at the 53rd International Double Reed Society Conference in Flagstaff, Arizona. In December 2023, they showcased an original arrangement of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Concerto for Oboe and Violin BWV 1060R, transformed for oboe, saxophone, and piano, at the World Saxophone Congress in the Canary Islands. In April 2022, they premiered Three Indian Folk Sketches by Anish Raj Pandit and The Solitude of Stars, an arrangement by Stacy Garrop for tenor saxophone, oboe, and piano. Their past projects include a commission titled Emergence, a piece for oboe, saxophone, and piano, by Jared Beu, which premiered at the 2021 North American Saxophone Alliance Virtual Conference. Other notable commissions include Paper Year by Jenni Watson, a piece commemorating their first wedding anniversary.
Lisa believes that music has the power to unite communities both locally and globally. During her doctoral studies at the University of Iowa, she organized and performed various community programs, including an educational program tailored for 3rd-grade students and local retirement and assisted living residences. In 2018, Lisa organized and performed a benefit concert in support of the nonprofit organization Educate Haiti Inc., which provides essential living necessities and education to Haitian teachers and students.
Lisa is deeply committed to sacred music and began organ lessons under the tutelage of Dr. Melanie Sigafoose during her doctoral studies at the University of Iowa. In the summer of 2023, Lisa served as the interim Music Director at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Iowa City.
Lisa will graduate in May of 2026 with her Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Iowa, where she served as the Oboe Teaching Assistant. She holds a Master of Music in Oboe Performance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and a Bachelor of Music in Oboe Performance from Indiana University Bloomington. Lisa gives a special thanks to her teachers and mentors: Dr. Courtney Miller, Jaren Atherholt, Roger Roe, and Linda Strommen. During the fall of 2016, Lisa had the privilege of studying at the Institute for the International Education of Students Study Abroad Program in Vienna, Austria, where she studied with Thomas Höniger, the principal oboist of the Vienna Radio Symphony. Lisa is an alumna of the esteemed Merit School of Music in Chicago, Illinois.
In her free time, Lisa finds joy in spending time with her husband and son, playing the organ, baking, learning hand embroidery and how to speak Korean. For more information, please contact Lisa.