CONDUCTOR BIO
page 6
Kwamé Ryan guest conductor
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 U.K. and Hungary, reading Musicology at Cambridge University, and studying conducting with Peter Eötvös. 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 Radio Orchestras of Stuttgart and Bavaria, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Staatsoper Saarbrücken and Staatsoper Stuttgart. While in France, he has worked at Opera de la Bastille, Opera de Lyon and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Work in the U.S. and the U.K. has taken him 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. He is a regular guest of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and most recently returned to La Monnaie, Brussels for the world premiere of Kris Defoort’s opera, The Time of our Singing. 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. Upcoming engagements include returns to the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, with debuts at the Stavanger Symphony and Netherlands Opera.
(continued next page)