Ryoko Amadee Goguen is a composer, pianist and vocalist, and a Visiting Scholar at UCSD. She lived in Japan until 1999, where she composed and performed extensively, including composing eight music theater pieces, of which two Kabuki Theater pieces were the largest. She performed at memorial ceremonies for the Kobe earthquake, and wrote its official theme song, which in 1994 won a contest judged by the well known producer David Foster. She is a copyrighter for JASRAC (the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers), received a scholarship from the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs, and joined the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, the Japanese Association for the Study of Popular Music, the Japanese Music Education Society, and the International Council for Traditional Music.

Since moving to America, she has composed over forty pieces, and performed in San Diego museums, galleries, theaters, and clubs, including performances of the Patricial Rincon Dance Collective. At UCSD, she has written four music theater pieces and a suite from an opera in progress, and has performed with and/or composed for Profs. Bertram Turetzky (one of the greatest bass players in the world), Anthony Davis (who has written several well received operas), George Lewis (who won a McArthur Foundation genius award), David Borgo (ethno-musicologist and jazz saxophonist), Mark Dresher (well known bassist and composer), and Jimmy Cheatham (who leads the UCSD Jazz Band); she is also regularly featured as both composer and performer in the UCSD Music Library, in performance series organized the Scott Paulson, who is Director of the Music Library. In addition, she has performed at the University of Vienna and the Music and Performing Arts University of Vienna, and in Munich, Verona, Napoli, Torino, Kassel, Bremen, and Dallas; her piece Zero, Connected, Empty has been published in Germany. She wrote a suite for the Camarada Chamber Ensemble, and was a Special Lecturer for 2003-2004 at Keio University in Tokyo, where she gave a public concert and lecture on the theme of emotion and improvisation in music.