Bill Ryan

For the past twenty years Bill Ryan (b.1968) has been a tireless advocate of contemporary music. Through his work as a composer, conductor, producer and educator, he has engaged diverse audiences throughout the country with the music of our time. In recognition of these efforts, in 2008 he won the Michigan Governor’s Award in Arts Education, and in 2009 the American Composers Forum's Champion of New Music Award for his significant contributions to the work and livelihoods of contemporary composers throughout the country.

In addition to the concert stage, Bill’s music is regularly used by choreographers and dance companies throughout the country. Most recently he composed the music for The Secondary Colors, an evening-length collaboration with Karen Stokes Dance which was called “The most adventurous, if not spectacular, work this year” by Culture Map Houston.

Also active as a concert producer, Bill has presented over 50 events in his Open Ears and Free Play concert series, gaining national recognition with three ASCAP/Chamber Music America Adventurous Programming Awards. Notable guests have included eighth blackbird, Prism, So Percussion, Ethel, Lisa Moore, Todd Reynolds, Julia Wolfe, Talujon, Michael Lowenstern, and the Michael Gordon Band.
 
As a conductor Bill has commissioned and premiered dozens of works by such notable composers as Phil Kline, Marc Mellits, Belinda Reynolds, Jad Abumrad, Evan Ziporyn, and David Lang. In 2006 he founded the Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble, who have been profiled in numerous publications including Newsweek, the New York Times, and Billboard Magazine, and featured on NPR's Weekend Edition, All Things Considered, and WNYC's Radiolab. Beyond their many campus events they have performed concerts in Detroit, Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington D.C., at New York’s Bang On a Can Marathon, as members of the all-star ensemble assembled by the Kronos Quartet to perform on the In C 45th Anniversary concert at Carnegie Hall, at (le) Poisson Rouge, and at the Make Music New York summer festival.
 
Bill has produced three critically acclaimed recordings by the ensemble, named to top year-end lists by the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Weekly, Time Out Chicago, and many others. A track from their second CD, In C Remixed, was recently heard on MTV's new hit series Teen Wolf. Music from their first CD, Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians, was recently named one of the top five classical recordings of the decade by WNYC’s John Schaefer.
 
Bill resides in West Michigan with his wife and three children. When not working on music Bill can usually be found in the woods, washing his truck, or watching the Detroit Tigers.