Marisa Ishikawa is currently a Teaching Assistant at the University of Colorado Boulder. Marisa was born in Boulder, Colorado and began playing the violin at the age of three. Between 2011 and 2015, Marisa earned at CU Boulder a Bachelor of Music with Highest Honors. Additionally, she received a Bachelor of Science: Accounting with High Distinction from CU Leeds School of Business. During this time, Marisa won various awards, including the Don and Maria Johnson Music Scholarship and the Pricewaterhouse Coopers Accounting Scholarship. From 2015 to 2017, Marisa studied with Brian Lewis at the University of Texas Austin, where she received the Starling Distinguished Violinist Scholarship and earned a Master in Music degree.

Throughout her education, Marisa has worked with numerous artists, such as Alexander Kerr, Rachel Barton Pine, Glenn Dicterow, Naoko Tanaka, Ani Kavafian, Peter Otto, and Stephen Rose. As a chamber musician, Marisa has studied with the Takács String Quartet and the Miró String Quartet. Marisa has soloed with the Greater Boulder Youth Orchestra, the Austin Civic Orchestra, and the National Repertory Orchestra, and has participated in the Aspen Music Festival and the National Repertory Orchestra. In August 2018, Marisa performed at the International Double Reed Society in Granada, Spain. In January 2019 she joined the Carpe Diem String Quartet, and has since performed with the quartet in Carnegie Hall, Jordan Hall, Italy, Switzerland, and China.

Marisa is also co-founder of the classical chamber music festival Austin Camerata, whose mission is to enrich the city of Austin by encouraging interest in classical chamber music amongst a variety of audiences. Its vision is to collaborate with other media such as dance, storytelling, and visual art, in order to connect with new audiences and to create a platform for artistic innovation.