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School of Music

Ryan Hobbs smiles while posing with his trumpetBM- DePaul University
MM- University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Trumpet professor Ryan Hobbs is a busy freelance musician and teacher who joined the faculty of Illinois Wesleyan University in the fall of 2020 where he teaches applied trumpet lessons, trumpet studio class, and coaches various chamber groups. Ryan is a founding member and leader of the award-winning Chicago-based Brass Quintet, Northside Brass. And as a freelancer he maintains an active performance schedule having performed around the country with groups like: Lyric Opera Orchestra of Chicago, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonettia, American Ballet Theater (NYC), Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra, Omaha Symphony Orchestra and Brass Quintet, Chicago Opera Theater, South Dakota Symphony, Chicago Chamber Orchestra, Illinois Symphony Orchestra and Brass Quintet, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, South Bend Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Iowa, Sugar Creek Opera, Des Moines Symphony Orchestra, Champaign-Urbana Symphony, Elgin Symphony Orchestra, International Chamber Artists (Chicago), The Millar Brass Ensemble, New Philharmonic Orchestra, Present Music Milwaukee, Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra (MI), Dubuque Symphony Orchestra.


Ryan has also performed alongside many world-renowned soloists as well including: Bassist
Victor Wooten, Jody Benson (Ariel in Disney’s “The Little Mermaid”), International Opera Stars: Andrea
Bocelli, Richard Troxell and Sarah Jane McMahon, The Harlem String Quartet, and Violin soloists
Rachel Barton- Pine, Melissa White and Tessa Lark. Ryan has performed under the baton of renowned
conductors: Joseph Kreines, Ormsby Wilkins, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Mei-Ann Chen, Ken Lam, Cliff Colnot,
Thomas Wilkins, Joseph Giunta and Richard Webster.


As a commercial/jazz player Ryan has performed with many groups including: international Rock
‘n Roll superstar Dennis DeYoung and “Styx”, Jazz legend Doc Severinson and his Big Band, the Tommy
Dorsey Orchestra, Jazz Vocalist Jane Monheit, and Damien McGinty from Glee and Irish Thunder. And
he has performed in countless Broadway shows around Chicago including recent performances of “The
Sound of Music”, “How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying”, and “Hunchback of Notre Dame”.


Finally, Ryan is passionate about music education and maintains an active private studio in the
Chicago-land area with over 50 private students. He is currently Professor of Trumpet at Illinois
Wesleyan University, Neuqua Valley High School, Metea Valley High School, St. Charles North HS, andGeneva High School. Previously he taught at St. Xavier University in Chicago, University of Wisconsin-
Milwaukee, and Birch Creek Music Camp in Door County, Wisconsin.

Ryan studied trumpet with Will Scarlett (Chicago Symphony Orchestra), Matt Lee and John
Hagstrom (DePaul University), Kevin Hartman (University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee), John Rommel
(Indiana University), and Charles Geyer and Barbara Butler (Northwestern University). He lives in
Geneva with his wife Molly, daughter’s Emma and Claire, and dog Bernie.