Ricki Hisaw, Violin

Ricki has played in The VSO’s violin section since 1995.  She is also a jazz singer and studies accordion and guitar. 

She began studying at age eight, learning on her grandfather’s violin. She was in the Albuquerque Youth Symphony program for six years. She played in the UNM Symphony Orchestra while attending the University of New Mexico, graduating with a BA in English and Business. 

Ricki and her husband, Ken, moved to Oregon in 1994. They were married in 2005 in Goetzis, Austria and live in Portland with their two cats. 

Ricki’s two great loves are travel and music. She loves playing any kind of music – classical, jazz, rock, blues, Latin, and anything in between!  She brings her violin with her whenever she travels, as one never knows when an opportunity will present itself to sit in with a band in a pub or at a festival, or just play around a campfire. 

Besides playing with VSO, Ricki serves as the Regional Marketing Manager for WHPacific, where she leads the firm’s strategic marketing and communication initiatives.