Local Musician Remembers Positive Memories Made at KISSM: Ryan's Story

Ryan Noakes is an accomplished classical musician and composer who has his finger on the pulse of the Kamloops music community. You may know Ryan as one of the members of the popular local a cappella group, Slow No Tempo, or as a trumpeter with the Kamloops Community Band. He is also one of the driving forces behind the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra where he works as the Marketing Coordinator. What you may not know about Ryan however, is that for several years he was a student of the Kamloops Interior Summer School of Music!

Ryan started his musical journey in the fall of grade 6 when he joined his elementary school band as a trumpet player and found that he took to the instrument naturally. When he heard about the Kamloops Interior Summer School of Music, he was excited about the opportunity to continue to grow his skills as a musician and meet new like-minded friends.

Ryan attended KISSM from 1991 to 1996. During this time he had fantastically positive experiences making music and new friends. He was hooked from the very first year. Ryan says, “There were so many opportunities to explore and learn new things, the faculty were all incredibly inspiring, I made many life-long friends, and was noticeably improving in my skills every summer.”

KISSM was an important part of Ryan’s high school years and his love for music carried on even after. In the summer of 2001, Ryan came back to KISSM as an Assistant Faculty member. This teaching experience helped him realize that music was what he was meant to do. With support from staff at KISSM, he decided to go to university to pursue music.

Ryan went on to complete a Bachelor of Music Degree at the University of Victoria majoring in composition. He then attended the University of British Columbia and graduated with a Masters in Music Composition. Over the years he has performed in different professional and semi-professional ensembles sharing his gifts with the community.

The Kamloops Music Collective is grateful to Ryan and the contributions he has made to our organization over the years! Each day we strive to provide music education for young musicians in our community to help them realize their potential and find their passion, just like Ryan.