Betsy Ko

Betsy Ko has been a member of the Merit faculty since 1994. In addition to teaching private students, she has taught group flute classes in the Alice S. Pfaelzer Conservatory program for over twenty years. She coaches the Purple Hippopotami Flute Quartet and was proud to see Merit’s flutes shine in both the M-Prize and Fischoff Chamber Music Competitions where they earned medals in 2018 and 2020 respectively.

Ms. Ko is a founding faculty member of ChiArts, Chicago’s first public arts high school where she served as Music Department Head from 2009 to 2021. She remains at ChiArts as the school’s Band Director. A native of New York, Ms. Ko has been an active performer in the Chicago area since arriving here in 1991. She currently performs with the Northshore Concert Band. Ms. Ko received her M.M. in flute performance from DePaul University where she studied with Mary Stolper. Her undergraduate degree was in pure mathematics from Brown University. She additionally holds Illinois Type 10 teaching certification in music.