Through his work as a composer, conductor, producer and educator, Bill Ryan has engaged audiences throughout the country with the music of our time. He has won the American Composers Forum Champion of New Music Award, the Michigan Governor’s Award in Arts Education, and the Distinguished Contribution in a Discipline award from Grand Valley State University.

Bill’s compositions have roots in minimalism, jazz and popular music and have been performed on concert and dance stages in major cities and venues across the country. His music has received awards from Meet the Composer, ASCAP, and New Music USA. His album Towards Daybreak was a featured release on NPR, the Huffington Post, and iTunes Classical.

With new music ensembles he founded at Suffolk Community College (New York) and then GVSU, Bill has commissioned and premiered over eighty compositions. He has also produced five commercial albums by the GVSU group, which have been named to top year-end lists by the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Weekly, Time Out Chicago, and many others.

As a concert producer, Bill has presented over 75 events in his Open Ears and Free Play concert series, gaining national recognition with three ASCAP/ Chamber Music America Adventurous Programming Awards.

Bill resides in West Michigan with his wife and numerous pets his three kids have left behind. When not pursuing music he can usually be found in the woods running ultra marathons, searching for the perfect IPA, or watching the continual struggles of the Detroit Lions and Tigers.