Meet Ryan Hobbs

Ryan Hobbs is an accomplished trumpet professor, performer, and educator based in the Chicago area. He is currently professor of trumpet at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, IL. Previously, Ryan taught at St. Xavier University in Chicago, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Birch Creek Music Camp in Wisconsin.

As a versatile freelancer, Ryan’s performance credits span a wide array of ensembles and styles. He has performed with the Lyric Opera Orchestra of Chicago, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta, American Ballet Theatre (NYC), Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra, Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra, Omaha Symphony Orchestra and Brass Quintet, Chicago Opera Theater, South Dakota Symphony, Illinois Symphony Orchestra, and Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, among others.

He has performed alongside internationally celebrated artists, including Victor Wooten, Jodi Benson (Disney’s The Little Mermaid), Vocalists: Andrea Bocelli, Richard Troxell, Sarah Jane McMahon, Violinists: Rachel Barton Pine, Melissa White, Tessa Lark, and the Harlem String Quartet.  He has also performed with legends like Dennis DeYoung and Styx, jazz icon Doc Severinsen, the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, jazz vocalist Jane Monheit, and Glee star Damien McGinty. He regularly performs with Broadway in Chicago pit orchestras including recent productions of The Sound of Music, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He lives in Geneva with his wife Molly and daughters Emma and Claire.