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Artistic Director Lance Inouye, has conducted the Willamette Valley Symphony since 2022.

He also currently serves as Resident Conductor and Artistic Advisor of Hawai’i Opera Theatre and Director of Orchestral Activities at Lewis & Clark College. Inouye’s diverse career has led to engagements with Portland Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Sarasota Opera, Hawai’i Opera Theatre, Opera Maine, and orchestras across the U.S. and abroad. Active as a guest lecturer and conductor, he has given masterclasses at Mahidol University College of Music in Bangkok Thailand and at the Instituto de Formación Integral Coro y Orquesta Urubichá in Bolivia where he premiered the music of Chilean composer Freddy Vilches. Inouye often collaborates with contemporary opera composers and has recently conducted works by Huang Ruo, Gregory Spears, Jack Perla, Carlos Simon, Jorge Martin, Damien Geter, and Dean Burry.

Inouye was previously Conducting Assistant with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and has guest conducted the Naples Philharmonic, Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra, Walla Walla Symphony, Corvallis-OSU Symphony among others, and in Russia, 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 been a prizewinner at conducting competitions throughout Europe, most notably receiving 2nd prize in the Makris International Conducting Competition in Belgrade, Serbia. Inouye studied in Russia at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory, the Aspen Music Festival, and received his DMA degree in orchestral conducting from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.