Angela Woo

Angela Woo is Director of Instrumental Music at John Adams Middle School (Santa Monica, CA) where over 300 students comprise three concert bands and three string orchestras.  The John Adams ensembles have consistently earned the highest possible ratings at performance festivals.  In 2011, the John Adams Middle School Wind Ensemble was selected to perform at the inaugural California All-State Music Education Conference as the only middle school concert band in the state to be so honored.  
 
Woo is also Music Director of Pacific Symphony Youth Concert Band (Orange County, CA), which is in its third season as part of the Pacific Symphony Youth Ensembles, one of the largest pre-professional music training programs in the nation for young musicians in grades 6 through 12.
 
For over 25 years, Woo has enjoyed an active schedule as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator with numerous honor groups, conducting symposia, and music festivals throughout the United States.  Woo has been invited by several universities to lead professional development workshops for music educators at the elementary and secondary levels.  Her guest conducting invitations have included All-State honor bands and orchestras at the middle school and high school levels in Kentucky, Oregon, Michigan, Colorado, California, and Georgia.  Woo has been invited by the WorldStrides Honors Performance Series to conduct in Carnegie Hall (New York) with the 2019 and 2022 Middle School Honors Orchestra, and the 2020 High School Symphony Orchestra; she joined the team for their West Coast debut as the conductor of the 2024 Honors Performance Middle School Orchestra at the Ambassador Auditorium (Pasadena, CA).
 
On the international level, Woo was the first woman to conduct at the 1992 XIV New Music Forum in Mexico City, premiering wind music of Karel Husa, Vincent Persichetti, George Crumb and William Schuman.  In 2019, Woo was the first international guest conductor for the middle school State Honours Ensemble Program at the Queensland Conservatorium at Griffith University (Brisbane, Australia), and returned to guest conduct the national high school Wind Orchestra with the 2023 Australian Honours Ensemble Program.
 
An alumna of the University of California, Los Angeles, Woo holds the degrees Bachelor of Arts in Music Education and Piano Performance, Master of Education, and Master of Fine Arts in Conducting.  She also holds the Master of Arts in Educational Administration from California State University, Northridge.  Before her appointment at John Adams Middle School in 1995, Woo was Director of Music at Corona del Mar High School (Orange County, CA), where she led the band, orchestra, choral, and jazz ensembles.  She also served as conductor of the Santa Monica College Wind Ensemble during the 1995-96 season.
 
Woo is a staunch advocate for music education at all levels.  She has been recognized and honored for her advocacy and service to music education by local, regional, and national organizations, including the Santa Monica Rotary Club (2005 Santa Monica-Malibu District Teacher of the Year), the John Philip Sousa National Foundation (2012 Legion of Honor Laureate), the Education Through Music - Los Angeles Foundation (2019 Shining Star Award), and the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association (2020 Gold Award).  Woo was named the recipient of the 2024 California Music Educators Association Middle School Music Educator Award.