BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Ryan Trew is a composer, percussionist, and music theory pedagogue. As a composer, Ryan’s works have been performed by renowned Canadian ensembles including the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Prince George Symphony Orchestra, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra. He has worked extensively with Maestro Evan Mitchell who is one of the most innovative and sought after conductors in Canada. Ryan wrote the music for episode nine of Threepenny Submarine - Season 1, which is a 2024 winner of Opera America’s Digital Excellence in Opera Award - Noteworthy Project.
In the 2024 - 2025 season, Ryan’s orchestral and operatic work will be heard across the country. Symphony Number 1 will be played by the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, Intermezzo will be played by the Saskatoon Symphony, his arrangement Hindemith’s Flute Sonata will be played by Amelia Lyon and the Kingston Symphony Orchestra, and his first chamber Opera Come Closer will be premiered by Opera 5 in Toronto and workshopped at Opera McGill. Come Closer has had previous residencies and workshops at Pacific Opera Victoria, Opera 5, The Banff Centre for the Arts, Opera McGill, and is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.
Living in a modern tonal world, Ryan’s compositions focus on rhythmic, harmonic and timbral relationships, while incorporating popular styles and classical idioms in unique and unfamiliar contexts. His music has been described as “sumptuous, remarkable and constantly surprising.” Audiences across the country have consistently found his works to be deeply compelling.
Ryan was a winner of the Vancouver Symphony Olympic Commissioning Project in 2010, and was asked to compose a piece in celebration of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. The resulting commission of “Starlike” was premiered by Bramwell Tovey with the VSO and, hailed as a triumph, has since been performed over forty times by orchestras across the country. His first set of orchestral songs entitled “Come Closer” was premiered to great acclaim in Toronto in 2018 and again in 2022 by Rachel Krehm and the Canzona Chamber Players.
In 2013, Ryan received his Doctorate of Music at the University of British Columbia. Ryan has studied with several eminent Canadian composers including Christos Hatzis, Peter Hatch, Glenn Buhr, and Stephen Chatman.
As an active educator, Ryan has instructed all levels of music theory in both larger classroom contexts in a university setting and in private classes and lessons within the community. In addition, Ryan has several composition students whose works have been performed publicly by both the Vancouver Symphony and Victoria Symphony.
