Kwamé Ryan
1970
Trinidadian conductor
Career
Early history and education
Kwamé Ryan was born in Canada and grew up on the Caribbean island of Trinidad, where he received his early musical education. He completed his studies in the United Kingdom and Hungary, reading musicology at Cambridge University. He held the position of general music director of Freiburg Opera between 1999 and 2003, and served as musical and artistic director of the National Orchestra of Bordeaux Aquitaine between 2007 and 2013.
As a guest conductor in Germany, he has conducted the Stuttgart and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestras, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Berlin Konzerthausorchester, Saarbrücken Staatsoper, and Stuttgart Staatsoper. In France he has worked at Opera Bastille, Opéra National de Lyon, and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. His work in the United States and the UK has taken him to the Baltimore, Dallas, Detroit, Indianapolis, Atlanta, and Houston symphony orchestras, as well as Boston Lyric Opera, English National Opera, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and London’s Philharmonia Orchestra. He has been a regular guest of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and most recently returned to Brussels’s La Monnaie for the world premiere of Kris De Foort’s The Time of our Singing, which won the International Opera Award for world premiere of the year in 2021.
A recipient of international awards for outstanding work in the field of music education, Ryan has served as musical director of the National Youth Orchestra of France and as director of the Academy for the Performing Arts at the University of Trinidad and Tobago. Recent engagements have taken him to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Opera, Hamburg Symphony, and Charlotte Symphony Orchestra; upcoming debuts are scheduled with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Philharmonic.
Conducting career
From 1999 to 2003, Ryan served as Generalmusikdirektor (General Music Director) of the Freiburg Opera and Freiburg Philharmonic Orchestra. His work there included wide-ranging operatic and concert performances, and a commercial recording of Luigi Nono’s Prometeo.
In 2007, Ryan became Music Director of the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine (ONBA), holding the post until 2013. In 2008, he was also named Music Director of Orchestre Français des Jeunes, a post he held until 2011.
As a guest conductor in Germany, Ryan conducted the Radio Orchestras of Stuttgart and Bavaria, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Staatsoper Saarbrücken, and Staatsoper Stuttgart, while in France, he worked with Opera de la Bastille, Opera de Lyon, and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Work in the U.S. and the U.K. included visits to the Symphony Orchestras of Baltimore, Dallas, Detroit, Indianapolis, Atlanta, Houston, Boston Lyric Opera, English National Opera, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Scottish Symphony and the London Philharmonia. Other important guest conducting engagements include repeated invitations to the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Proms and operatic productions for La Monnaie, Brussels, and Dutch National Opera.
A passionate educator, Ryan was appointed Professor and Director of the University of Trinidad and Tobago’s National Academy for the Performing Arts in 2015, focusing on youth arts and community development projects until the end of his tenure in 2022.
Ryan then returned to the podium full-time and currently conducts worldwide as a freelancer.
Recordings
Ryan’s recordings include Simplicius Simplicissimus by Karl Amadeus Hartmann with Stuttgart State Opera (2005, DVD), Vortex Temporum by Gerard Grisey and works by Salvatore Sciarrino with Ensemble Recherché, Prometeo by Luigi Nono, Neither by Feldman, Schubert’s Symphony No. 9, and Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 2 (with Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine).