Jonathan Ryan
Biography
Jonathan Ryan is winner of the First
Prize in the 2009 Jordan II International Organ Competition. Founded in 2001, the American-based Jordan
International Competition is one of the premier organ competitions of the world
and offers the most substantial First Prize award of any organ
competition. At the 2009 Jordan
Competition, Jonathan was additionally awarded the LeTourneau Prize, given for
the best performance of a newly commissioned work for organ and percussion
ensemble. Prior to his Jordan
Competition prizes, Jonathan received First Prize in numerous other major
national organ competitions, including the 2006 Arthur Poister National Organ
Competition, the 2006 John Rodland Scholarship Competition, the 2004 Albert
Schweitzer National Organ Competition (Young Professional Division), and the
2003 Augustana Arts-Reuter National Organ Competition. Additionally, he received the Audience Prize
in the 2004 Miami International Organ Competition, an award given to the
favorite performer of the audience’s choice.
A native of Charlotte, NC,
Jonathan first started playing the organ at age eight. He studied organ primarily with André Lash
before entering the studio of Joyce Jones at Baylor University. He then went on to complete a Bachelor of
Music degree with academic honors from the Cleveland Institute of Music where
he studied organ and church music with Todd Wilson. During Jonathan’s undergraduate studies in Cleveland, he was awarded
the Henry Fusner Prize for outstanding achievement in the Cleveland Institute
of Music’s organ department, and also served as Mr. Wilson’s Student Intern in
Music at Cleveland’s
Church of the Covenant. As a student of
David Higgs, he received a Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of
Music. Additionally,
he holds the Fellow certificate from the American Guild of Organists, the
Guild’s highest ranking professional certification, as well as the Choirmaster
certificate for which he received the 2006 Choirmaster Prize for the highest
national Choirmaster certificate exam score that year.
As a recitalist, Jonathan has
concertized throughout the United States
and France
with a repertoire spanning the 16th to the 21st
centuries. His solo organ recitals have
taken him to many important venues including the Cathédrale St-André in Bordeaux, France,
the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC,
the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland,
CA, and Fourth Presbyterian
Church in Chicago, IL.
He has additionally been featured as a solo recitalist at the 2010 Organ
Historical Society National Convention in Pittsburgh,
PA, as well as the summer
Colloquium Conferences of the Church Music Association of America for the past three
years. Upcoming solo performance
engagements include recitals at Church of the Epiphany in Miami, FL,
the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Charleston,
SC, recitals sponsored by
chapters of the American Guild of Organists in Kansas City, MO
and Little Rock, AR, as well as Jonathan’s New York City début in February at Manhattan’s Church of the
Holy Family.
A
dedicated church musician and conductor, from 2006 to 2010, Jonathan maintained
a demanding schedule within the extensive music program at St. John Cantius
Church in Chicago, IL. At St. John Cantius, his duties included
serving as principal organist for Sunday and Feast Day liturgies, sharing in
the accompanying of the parish’s six choirs, including the two all-professional
ensembles, conducting the Gregorian chant choirs at three weekly High Masses,
and musical oversight of the parish’s ten sung Masses each week. Additionally, Jonathan directed the musical
formation of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius centering on Gregorian
chant. An advocate of new music, he has
performed the premiere of numerous liturgical and solo works, which annually
included a newly written Choral Mass at St. John Cantius Church by the church’s
own resident composers. Prior
to St. John Cantius, Jonathan served as Director of
Music and Choirmaster at St. Anne Church in Rochester, NY
where he was also Artistic Director of the Music at St. Anne concert
series, as well as University Organist at the University of Rochester.
Current as of September 2010