Hiroko Okada Hellyer received her Bachelor of Arts at the Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka, Japan and came to the U.S. in 1999 to study with Tim Adams at Carnegie Mellon University. Before coming to the U.S., Mrs. Hellyer was a gold medal winner of the All Japan Ensemble Contest, Percussion Division (1995) and Kansai Ensemble Contest, Percussion Division (1997). Mrs. Hellyer arrived in Denver in 2003 to earn her Masters degree under the tutelage of John Kinzie at the University of Denver. She graduated in 2006 with the distinction of the most outstanding graduate student in performance at the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music.

She has performed with the Brevard Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, National Repertory Orchestra, Grand Teton Music Festival, and Colorado Music Festival. In addition to her responsibilities with the Fort Collins Symphony, she is currently the principal percussionist with the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, and a substitute percussionist with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.

Mrs. Hellyer married her husband Peter, also a local percussionist, in April of 2006. She and her husband now reside in Centennial, Colorado.