R I Z A P R I N T U P
c r e a t o r • f o u n d e r
Jazz harpist, composer and arranger Riza Printup has always had a special place in her heart for education. In addition to performing and/or recording with the likes of husband Marcus Printup, Paquito D'Rivera, Kenny Werner, the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra, Yo-Yo Ma, Lady Gaga and Kathleen Battle, she continues her work as an Educator (Grades PreK-5).
Ms. Printup served as Director of Early Childhood Music and Orchestra at The Greater Atlanta Christian School (Atlanta, GA), and Director of Strings at The Cicely Tyson School of Performing Arts (East Orange, NJ). She later joined the early childhood faculty (WeBop) at Jazz at Lincoln Center (New York, NY). During her tenure, she brought programming to Harlem Children’s Zone (lower elementary and Pre-K) as well as to elementary schools across the US Virgin Islands.
Riza’s passion for education has taken her to develop the I Have A Song Inside My Heart ™ program and curriculum for early childhood and the K-5 General Music classroom as well as author her first two children's books, Theodore and Hazel and the Bird (2016) and The Great Big Spider & The Waterspout Blues (2019). In September of 2019, she and her husband Marcus Printup founded RiMarcable Music For Arts & Education, their non-profit organization through which they continue their outreach.
Through her partnership with Jazz House Kids and work with other notable organizations such as WBGO, Friends of Metuchen Arts, Midori and Friends, Homes for the Homeless, Carnegie Hall and Kennedy Center, Riza continues to bring I Have A Song Inside My Heart to students and communities throughout the NY/NJ area.