Lisa Liz is a King and C.G. Conn trombone artist, freelance musician, music educator, arranger and content creator currently living in Phoenix, Arizona. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Music Education followed by a Master’s degree in Music Performance from Arizona State University. During Lisa’s time at ASU, her teachers included Ralph Sauer, Douglas Yeo, Ryan Haines and Sam Pilafian. In 2008, Lisa toured throughout Japan as a trombonist and euphonium soloist with Min-On Concert Association’s original production Music Motion Theater: Odyssey—Brass Angels. During that first tour in Japan, Lisa felt a special connection with country’s beautiful landscape, culture and people. She always knew that one day she would return to that part of the world.
Lisa has been on five international tours with the Tony and Emmy award winning Broadway show Blast!. Her most prestigious performance with Blast! was at the 2012 World Expo in Yeosu, Korea. As fate would have it, Lisa’s intuitions were right, in the summer of 2012, Lisa returned to Japan with the cast of Blast! for the show’s first tour to travel to all 47 prefectures of the country. This was the largest tour in Japanese history undertaken by any musical production. Lisa was also an inaugural cast member in Kyodo Tokyo Inc.’s new show Blast! The Music of Disney. She performed in the 2016 promotional tour, and has been touring with the company ever since.
In between international tours, Lisa performed regularly throughout the Phoenix area as one of the city’s most in-demand freelance trombonists. Her talents and experiences most notably led her to the artistic world of musical theatre. As the former principal trombonist at the Arizona Broadway Theatre, she has performed in multiple productions including classics such as West Side Story, The Sound of Music, White Christmas and Les Misérables. Lisa has also played in the pit orchestra at The Palms Theatre and Theater Works.
In March of 2018, Lisa made her return to the pit orchestra playing both trombone and euphonium in the Japanese premier of Mary Poppins, produced by HoriPro. Mary Poppins ran at the Tokyu Theatre Orb in Shibuya, Tokyo and the Umeda Arts Theatre in Osaka. Also in 2018, Lisa performed at the Tokyo International Forum as the featured trombone soloist in Kyodo Tokyo Inc's brand new show, One Piece Oto Utage. Other performance credits include: The 7th Fleet Band Pacific Ambassadors, Sonoran Serenade Big Band, Scott Keo - Michael Bublé Tribute Artist, Bobby Vinton, Video Games Live, Mix it Up at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia, the Scottsdale Arts Orchestra, Symphony of the Southwest, the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps and the Yokosuka Symphony Orchestra.
Aside from her stage performance and pit orchestra career, Lisa also has significant experience in the pop/rock world. She plays trombone and sings backing vocals in the original band, The Hourglass Cats. With The Hourglass Cats, Lisa has collaborated in the music writing process, has recorded two EPs and one full length album with the band and toured throughout the Southwestern United States and Mexico. The band’s most notable performances were at the McDowell Mountain Music Festival in 2014 and 2015, Arizona’s largest annual music festival.
2021-2022 brought Lisa on her most exciting musical journey to date - playing trombone in EXPOSONIX, the official band of EXPO 2020 Dubai! In addition to freelancing in the Phoenix area, Lisa maintains a self-managed private lessons studio and produces videos for her YouTube channel, Lisa Liz Trombone.