Ryan McAdams

Equally at home in the world of opera, symphonic repertoire and contemporary music, American conductor Ryan McAdams has established a presence on both sides of the Atlantic.

In the 2019/20 season he returns to the Ravello Festival and takes to the podium once again with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, with whom he recently toured an all-Beethoven programme around Southern Italy. He joins the Phoenix and Omaha Symphony Orchestras in the Autumn, conducts a new production of Les pêcheurs de perles for Teatro Regio Torino, and will also lead the revival of Faust at the Zurich Opera with Saimir Pirgu, Ildebrando d'Arcangelo and Anita Hartig.

A contemporary music advocate, Ryan was the conductor for Elliott Carter's 103rd Birthday Celebration at the 92Y - a concert that was named one of the Best Classical Music Events of the year by the New York Times. He also  conducted the premiere of Donnacha Dennehy's opera The Second Violinist in Ireland before taking the production to the Barbican in London and will return to the work again in New York in Spring 2020.

Recent highlights include a return to Maggio Musicale Fiorentino conducting Carmen, Madama Butterfly and Le Nozze di Figaro with Lyric Opera of Kansas City and a collaboration with Wynton Marsalis, as well as subscription concerts with the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, Lirico Sinfonica Petruzzelli di Bari, Kansas City Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic and a return to the Israel Philharmonic. He has appeared with the Vancouver Symphony, Santa Fe Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestre symphonique et lyrique de Nancy, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, L'Orchestra de Chambre de Geneve, New York - City Opera, and the Moscow State Philharmonic.

Ryan studied at the Juilliard School and Indiana University. The post of Apprentice Conductor at Maazel´s Chateauville Foundation was created for him and he also was a Conducting Fellow at Tanglewood and an Assistant Conductor at the Aspen Music Festival. A Fulbright scholar, he served as Apprentice Conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, assisting then-Chief Conductor Alan Gilbert. He is the firstever recipient of the Sir Georg Solti Emerging Conductor Award and the Aspen-Glimmerglass Prize for Opera Conducting.

When Ryan is not travelling, he lives in Rhinebeck, New York, with his wife, the dancer and theatre artist Laura Careless, and their newborn Owain.

 

© Photo by Lisa Mazzucco