Ryan Brown

Composer RYAN BROWN draws heavily on his omnivorous musical tastes while maintaining a unique sound all his own. His works are often noted for their energy and off-kilter, foot-tapping rhythms and have been called “modern composed music at its best: nimble, expressive, ear-turning, and strange in an accessible way, highly virtuosic but never pretentious.” (Washington City Paper)Ryan’s music has been performed by many notable groups, performers, and presenters, including pianist Lisa Moore, guitarist Mark Stewart, the Robin Cox Ensemble, the BluePrint Project, the Great Noise Ensemble, and the MATA Festival. Radio features have included NPR’s Forum with Michael Krasney and Richard Freidman’s Music from Other Minds. In 2007 French record label trAce released Banksy on the album Post-Minimalism.Ryan has received an Emerging Composer Award from the Gerbode and Hewlett Foundations, and a Morton Gould Young Composer Award from ASCAP. He is currently a fellow in the Brooklyn Philharmonic’s Composer Mentoring Program. Upcoming premieres and commissions include music for the Left Coast Ensemble, the Paul Dresher Ensemble, and the Brooklyn Philharmonic.In 2006, along with composer Jonathan Russell and clarinetist Jeff Anderle, Ryan co-founded San Francisco’s annual Switchboard Music Festival, an 8-hour music marathon bringing together composers and performer’s who are challenging traditional genre lines. Himself active as both an electric guitarist and electric bassist, Ryan has been a featured performer in works by Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and John Adams, as well as the premiere performance and recording of Steve Mackey’s Measures of Turbulence.Ryan is a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and California State University, Long Beach, and is currently a graduate fellow at Princeton University. He has studied with Dan Becker, Martin Herman, Steve Mackey, and Bruce Miller. Visit his website at www.ryanbrownmusic.com.