Ryan McAdams - Conductor

Ryan McAdams is quickly establishing himself as one of the most exciting and versatile conductors of his generation. A Fulbright scholar, he previously served as Apprentice Conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, assisting then-Chief Conductor Alan Gilbert. Mr. McAdams is the first-ever recipient of the Sir Georg Solti Emerging Conductor Award, a $10,000 grant given by the Solti Foundation in Chicago. Recently, he was the conductor for Elliott Carter's 103rd Birthday Celebration at the 92Y with Fred Sherry and Nicholas Phan - a concert that was named one of the Best Classical Music Events of 2011 by Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times. His work as the 15th Music Director of the New York Youth Symphony has been hailed as "electrifying," "excellent" and "essential" by the New York Times. Former Music Directors of the NYYS include Leonard Slatkin, Myung Whun-Chung, David Alan Miller, and Miguel Harth-Bedoya.

Mr. McAdams made a highly successful subscription European debut in February, 2010 with the orchestra of the Maggio Musicale in Florence, and was immediately reinvited for subscription concerts in 2012. He made his Eastern European debut with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Julian Rachlin, and Mischa Maisky in Dubrovnik in September, 2010. His first commercial recording, a live performance of John Zorn's Violin Concerto "Contes de Fees," was released in 2010 on the composer's label.

Recent highlights include appearances with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, New York City Opera, New York City Ballet, Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, the Louisville Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, the Orchestra of St. Luke's, and CityMusic Cleveland, in addition to his three Carnegie Hall performances with the NYYS. His 2009 debut with New York City Opera led to immediate re-engagements. Other recent performances include appearances with the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Princeton Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Tanglewood Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, the Wordless Music Series, New Jersey Symphony, Glimmerglass Opera, and the Juilliard FOCUS! Festival. In 2007, he was invited by Lorin Maazel to create the post of Apprentice Conductor for the Chateauville Foundation at the Maazel Estate in Virginia, assisting Maestro Maazel on a production of Britten's "The Rape of Lucretia."

A new music advocate, Mr. McAdams premieres a new work by a major young composer on every concert with the NYYS through the award-winning First Music commissioning project. He is a regular performer on the New York new music scene. Recent new music projects include serving as the conductor for Elliott Carter's 103 Birthday Concert at the 92nd Y, premiering Jonathan Dawe's new opera "Cracked Orlando" with Anthony Roth Costanzo at the Italian Academy at Columbia University, and leading the world premiere of William Basinski's "The Disintegration Loops" with the Wordless Music Orchestra at the Temple of Dendur in the Metropolitan Museum for the 10th Anniversary of Sept. 11th - a concert broadcast worldwide on NPR. He has premiered over thirty works for the Juilliard Composers Concert series and the New York City Ballet, and served as Assistant Conductor for the American Composers Orchestra and for the St. Louis Symphony for the American premiere of John Adams' "Doctor Atomic Symphony," both at Carnegie Hall.

In 2008, at the invitation of James Levine and the Tanglewood Festival, he served as one of Tanglewood's Conducting Fellows. Highlights included a performance of Stravinsky's Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments with Peter Serkin, and assisting Maestro Levine on a performance of Act III of Wagner's "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg." He has been invited back to Tanglewood to conduct the BUTI Orchestra in the Summer of 2013.

In 2008, he served as the Assistant Conductor of the Aspen Music Festival. In 2005 and 2006, he attended the Aspen Music Festival as an Academy Conductor, studying with David Zinman and Murry Sidlin. Nominated by both Maestro Zinman and Glimmerglass Opera, he became the first recipient of the Glimmerglass-Aspen Prize for Opera Conducting. As a result of the prize, Mr. McAdams served as Assistant Conductor for Glimmerglass Opera's 2007 season.

A gifted speaker and educator, he has been asked to give pre-concert lectures and interviews about music and performance by New York City Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, the New York Youth Symphony, the Juilliard School, and the Aspen Music Festival.

A graduate of the Juilliard conducting program, Ryan McAdams has worked with all of the Juilliard orchestral ensembles, and served as a graduate-level Aural Skills instructor. Mr. McAdams was the first Master's degree candidate accepted into Juilliard by James DePreist, and is a recipient of the Bruno Walter Memorial Scholarship.

Ryan McAdams is a native of St. Louis. He received his M.M. in Orchestral Conducting from the Juilliard School in 2006, and a B.M. in Piano Performance from Indiana University in 2004, where he studied with Karen Shaw.

Mr. McAdams is represented exclusively by William G. Guerri and Jeffrey Larson at Columbia Artists, LLC (CAMI). For contact information, please see "Contact."