about

Ryu Cipris is a flute player freelancing in New York City. Ryu performs most frequently with The Lion King on Broadway where he has been a substitute for the past decade, and has worked with The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall and Radio City Christmas Spectacular. He’s been a recent guest principal with the New Haven Symphony, Opera Saratoga, Greenwich Symphony, New Jersey Festival Orchestra, a soloist with Queens Symphony, and recorded with Yale Schola Cantorum. Ryu appeared on HBO’s The Gilded Age and has backed Cyndi Lauper, Barry Manilow, Heather Headley, and Charo.

Born to emigrants from Japan and the former Yugoslavia, Ryu earned degrees from the Peabody Institute in Baltimore and Conservatorium van Amsterdam in Holland. He won the Dutch International Flute Competition and Yamaha Young Performing Artist national auditions while studying with Marieke Schneemann and Marina Piccinini. Direct from grad school, Ryu was hired for the North American tour of Les Misérables where he had the further fortune of meeting his future husband, percussionist Eric Borghi.