Los Angeles teaching artist specializing in arts integration.
Kateri Lirio, MAT is a graduate of the Longy School of Music at Bard College. Her capstone research project “Sustaining Intergenerational Media in Music Education” explores opportunities for effective instruction that engages students, families, and communities.
A product of the renown Orange County School of the Arts, Lirio sharpened her classical piano skills and music theory know-how at a young age. Lirio completed the rigorous 10-Level Certificate of Merit program by the age of 16 and earned the highest marks in AP Music Theory. She graduated Valedictorian in 2006 from OCSA’s instrumental music conservatory.
Lirio continued her music education on a full scholarship to Cal Poly Pomona where she studied piano with GRAMMY award winning, Dr. Nadia Shpachenko and Mike Garson (David Bowie). The university’s learn-by-doing philosophy landed her opportunities to perform the original arrangement of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”. She was awarded the Paul Anka Songwriting Endowment in 2009 and graduated Magna Cum Laude where she was named “Outstanding Graduate”.
As a collaborative pianist for nearly 2 decades, Lirio spent most of her career supporting church ensembles and community theater groups. She has shared the stage with Eden Espinosa (Wicked) and performed at the NAMM show. As an educator, Lirio runs a virtual music studio and serves Los Angeles non-profit organizations like the Filipino American Symphony Orchestra and the Arts for Healing and Justice Network. Lirio has presented at El Sistema USA National Symposium on “Using the National Core Arts Standards in El Sistema-inspired Programming” and “Building Trust in A Community Through Songwriting” at the YOLA National Symposium.
Lirio cares about social justice issues and champions for cultural equity and belonging. In 2013, she went on a mission trip to the Philippines to serve at the Hospicio de San Jose where she taught orphans and victims of domestic violence to find their voice. In 2016, she executive produced a holiday album where the proceeds went to the Khalsa Peace Corps’s “Share-A-Meal” program, feeding the unhoused during the holidays. Lirio is a founding board member of the award-winning classical chamber ensemble, Bridge to Everywhere.
Lirio stays creatively active as a songwriter and producer. Her album of the one-woman musical, “Psalms for Inside Times” is available on Bandcamp. The musical is currently in pre-production.