Lance Inouye
Associate Professor of Music, Director of Orchestral Activities
Director of Orchestral Activities and Music Director and Conductor of the Lewis & Clark Orchestra, Lance Inouye teaches courses in music theory, musicianship, and conducting. He is also Artistic Director and Conductor of the Willamette Valley Symphony. Inouye’s diverse conducting career has led to engagements with Portland Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Sarasota Opera, Hawai’i Opera Theatre, Opera Maine, as well as orchestras across the U.S. and abroad. Inouye previously held the position of Conducting Assistant with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and has appeared as guest conductor with the Naples Philharmonic, Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra, Walla Walla Symphony, Corvallis-OSU Symphony, Temple University Opera Theatre, and in Russia, Inouye has guest conducted the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra “Klassika,” Karelia Philharmonic, Sochi Symphony Orchestra, and the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic of which he served as Associate Conductor for three seasons.
Inouye has recently given conducting masterclasses in Bangkok, Thailand, and at the Instituto de Formación Integral Coro y Orquesta Urubichá, in Bolivia, where he premiered the music of Chilean composer and Lewis & Clark Professor, Freddy Vilches. Inouye often works with contemporary composers and has conducted operas by Gregory Spears, Jack Perla, Jorge Martin, Carlos Simon, Dean Burry, and Damien Geter. In the 2025-26 season Inouye will conduct the world premiere of Herb Mahelona’s new opera Kamalehua: The Sheltering Tree, the first fully professional opera sung in the Hawaiian language, commissioned by Hawai’i Opera Theatre starring baritone Quinn Kelsey.
Inouye has been a prizewinner at conducting competitions throughout Europe, most notably receiving 2nd prize in the Makris International Conducting Competition in Belgrade, Serbia. Inouye studied under David Zinman at the Aspen Music Festival in the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen, received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in orchestral conducting from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and completed his post-graduate studies in Russia at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory “Rimsky-Korsakov.”