About Ryan

Short Bio (150 words)

Ryan McQuay Meredith is a composer, trombonist and environmentalist from Northeast America, known for his versatile compositions and environmental advocacy. He has traveled internationally, creating music inspired by locations like U.S. National Parks, Delaware, New York, the Mojave Desert, Alaska, Germany, England, and Scotland.

His style, influenced by nature, visual arts, and technology, encompasses various mediums, including his “Music Box,” an electro-acoustic instrument of his own creation. Ryan’s National Parks Series for Trombone Choir features five select American National Parks, musically illustrating the most stunning American landscapes. His most recent adventure found him 3,350 miles from home in Lake Clark National Park, Alaska, creating new music drawing from the environment.

He is a graduate student in Music Composition at Syracuse University holding an undergraduate degree in Music Composition from the University of Delaware. Apart from music, Ryan’s interests include illustrating, painting, crystals, Legos, his two cats, and the color orange.

Long Bio (350 words)

Ryan McQuay Meredith is an active composer, trombonist, environmentalist, and advocate for the music of others. Since his upbringing in Northeast America, Ryan has traveled internationally as both a composer and trombonist. He has written music about United States National Parks, Delaware, New York, the Mojave Desert, Germany, Scotland, and Alaska. Ryan’s compositional style is diverse and exploratory, often inspired by nature, visual arts, technology, and sonic experience.

Ryan makes use of extraordinarily rich and varied soundscapes in a variety of mediums, from concert to computers to canvas. In his National Parks Series for Trombone Choir, Ryan specifically composed music to five select American National Parks, musically illustrating the grandeur and uniqueness of the most stunning landscapes in the states. Ryan has also composed multiple pieces with his Music Box, a mechanical electro-acoustic instrument of his own creation. His most recent adventure found him 3,350 miles from home in Lake Clark National Park, Alaska, with Composing in the Wilderness. Himself and five other composers spent six days on Lower Tazimina Lake, one of the most remote and rarely visited locations in the Park. Ryan and his colleagues wrote six new compositions for Wind Ensemble drawing from the adventure, producing a first-of-its-kind concert program where each piece is inspired by the same extraordinary shared experience.

Ryan is a full-time graduate student in Music Composition (M.M) at Syracuse University’s Setnor School of Music, holding the position of graduate teaching assistant in Jazz and Commercial Music. Ryan has a degree in Music Composition (B.M.) from the University of Delaware. Notable recent performances include The Syracuse Society for New Music, The Washington Trombone Ensemble in Washington, D.C., and the NotaBene Chamber Group from Kyiv, Ukraine. Some of Ryan’s past achievements include 1st prize in the 2022 Joseph Dorfman International Memorial Composer’s Competition, being the State winner for Delaware in the National M.T.N.A. Composition Competition, and 1st place prizes in both the 2016 and 2017 D.M.E.A. Young Composers Composition Competitions.

Ryan’s other passions include illustrating, painting, crystals, legos, his two cats, and the color orange.