A native of Arizona, Denisse has always had a love for music, starting on the violin at age 9. Her desire to continue involvement in music and pass that love on to future generations lead her to continue her music studies beyond high school and into music education. Denisse holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Arizona State University, studying Music Education with Dr. Marg Schmidt and violin with Danwen Jiang. She also holds a Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from Brigham Young University, studying with Kory Katseanes and Dr. Don Peterson.

Denisse’s experience as an educator include 4 years as a violin coach at The Waterford School, 6 years as Director of Orchestras at Juan Diego Catholic High School where she directed 5 string ensembles and 2 guitar classes, and 2 years in Alpine School District teaching at Mountain Ridge Jr. High and Lake Mountain Middle School. Denisse has two published works for the classroom: Harmony and Melody for Multi-stringed Instruments, a music theory book for strings, and Music Theory and the Fretboard, a beginning level guitar book, for high school students.

Her experience as a conductor lead her to roles as Associate Conductor for 3 years with the Utah Philharmonic Orchestra, Associate Conductor for 2 years and later Music Director for 3.5 years with West Jordan Symphony. In 2017 Denisse was invited to take part as a participant (1 of 10) in the University of Oregon Summer Conducting Institute working on her craft with David M. Jacobs (Univ. of Oregon) and Neil Varon (Eastman). For the past 4 years, Denisse has been part of Witness Music‘s Lamb of God as assistant conductor and violinist, conducting and performing the oratorio every March.

Denisse is currently the Director of Orchestras at Lake Mountain Middle School and will be the new Director of Orchestras at Sage Canyon Middle School this Fall. She maintains a small studio of private violin students and enjoys the occasional studio musician work and volunteer ensemble performances in her free time. Denisse enjoys youth outreach opportunities and has been on organization committees and faculty for the Four String Festival and Utah Live! music festivals, both with the Utah Philharmonic Orchestra. She has been part of the Mountain Springs Music Festival since 2019.