Odd Terje Lysebo's musical career is extensive and includes studies in Theory and
Composition with Antonio Bibalo, and in Conducting with Øivin Fjeldstad in Oslo, Igor Markevitsj in Paris, Herbert Blomstedt in Copenhagen and Frederick Fennell in the USA.

He started his career as the assistant conductor of The Royal Norwegian Guards Band from 1971 to 1972. In 1972 he was appointed Director of Music for the city of Larvik, Norway, where today he is also the Director of the Larvik School of Performing Arts, which he founded in 1974; the school has about 3700 students of music, drama, ballet, visual art, painting, sculpture and writing.

Mr. Lysebo is the conductor of the three top Norwegian bands: the Larvik Wind Ensemble, the Nanset Wind Ensemble and the Sandefjord Wind Orchestra. The Nanset Wind Ensemble has won the top division in the Norwegian championship several times. They have also been among the top bands in the highest division at the WMC, Kerkrade, Holland. With these bands he has toured Scandinavia, England, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Spain and Italy.

For many years he has guest conducted and lectured all over Europe, Asia, the USA and Canada. He has conducted bands and orchestras in more than 20 European countries, including: in Paris, the famous Musique de la Guarde Republicaine de Paris; and in Copenhagen, the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra. In Europe he has lectured at Norges Musikkhøgskole (Academy of Music in Oslo, Norway), all the Conservatories of Music in Norway, and at The Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm, Sweden. He has been conductor of the Norwegian National Youth Band and The Finish National Youth Band. In Norway he is a very popular guest conductor of all the Norwegian Military bands. He has been artistic director of several conducting symposiums in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Holland, the Faroe Islands and the USA.

In the USA he has been visiting professor and guest conducted at, among others, Northwestern University, Eastman School of Music, the University of Minnesota, St. Olaf College, Luther College, Concordia College, Winthrop University, and the University of St. Thomas. He has been guest conductor at clinics in several places in the USA. He has guest conducted the US Marine Band, the US Navy Band, the US Army Band, and the US Air Force Band, among others. He was the first non-American to conduct all the four Service Bands in Washington DC. At the International Music Camp, ND, he was the first European guest conductor, and was made an Honorary Member.

Odd Terje Lysebo has dedicated much of his time to contemporary music. Many Norwegian and foreign composers have written music for him. He has conducted many world premieres and numerous European and Norwegian premieres of important works by composers like Karel Husa, Warren Benson, Gunther Schuller, Olivier Messiaen and Paul Hindemith. Mr. Lysebo has collaborated frequently with Olivier Messiaen, Karel Husa and Warren Benson; the latter called him, "The saviour of contemporary wind music in Europe". Mr. Lysebo has commissioned many works by Norwegian composers and many of them have been recorded on different CD labels.

At the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) he conducts several concerts during the year, and he has also had his own radio show featuring band music from all over the world.

He is a well-known arranger of band music and has arranged more than 400 works for band. Many of them are large orchestral works such as: Stravinsky's 'The Rite of Spring', 'The Firebird Suite' and 'Petrouschka'; Bartok's 'Concerto for Orchestra' and 'The Miraculous Mandarin'; and Gustav Mahler's 'Symphony No. 3'.

For his work, Odd Terje Lysebo has received many awards like The Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Orpheus Award for his "significant and lastingly contribution to the cause of music in America", The City of Larvik Culture Award, the Norwegian Honorary Medal for Conductors, and the Hedrum Sparebank Culture Prize. He is an Honorary Member of the International Music Camp, ND, an Honorary Member of three Norwegian Band organizations and he has received honours from St. Olaf College.

He has been an active member of WASBE since its foundation. He served on the Board of Directors for many years, and he was also one of the Executives. He was a member of the Artistic Program Committee for the Jönköping Conference in Sweden 2003, for the 2007 conference in Ireland, for the 2009 conference in Cincinnati and the 2011 conference in Taiwan. His ensembles performed at the first conference in Skien, Norway; the conference in Jönköping, Sweden; and at the Killarney conference in 2007. In Killarney he performed the opera 'The Priest and his Servant, Balda' by Shostakovich with an animated movie, puppets and singers, in a staged performance which was the premiere of this new version of the work. Mr. Lysebo is a scholar on Shostakovich and his music for wind instruments.

Since July 2011 he has been the elected World President of WASBE.