photo credit: Dominica Eriksen
Ryan Carter composes for instruments, voices, and computers. Ryan's work often explores new musical possibilities presented by emerging technologies, while remaining critical of the assumptions and unintended side effects embedded in them. Alternately playful, quirky, visceral, and intense, his music has been described by the New York Times as "imaginative ... like, say, a Martian dance party." Ryan has been commissioned by Carnegie Hall, the Boise Philharmonic, the National Flute Association, the MATA Festival, the Metropolis Ensemble, Present Music, The Milwaukee Children's Choir, the Calder Quartet, and Seattle Symphony Artist-in-Residence Seth Parker Woods, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Jerome Foundation, the American Composers Forum, and Meet the Composer. Ryan has collaborated with the Berkeley Symphony, the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, the International Contemporary Ensemble, the Nieuw Ensemble, the JACK Quartet, the Mivos Quartet, Quartetto Maurice, Yarn/Wire, the Argento Chamber Ensemble, the Princeton Laptop Orchestra, Transit, NOW Ensemble, and many others. Awards include the Lee Ettelson Award, the Aaron Copland Award, the Left Coast Composition Contest, the National Association of Composers/USA Composer's Competition, the Publikumspreis at the Heidelberg Spring Festival, and the LA Phil Prize at Hack Music LA. His debut portrait album can be heard on KAIROS Records.
In addition to composing acoustic music, Ryan is an avid computer musician, programmer, and performer. His iMonkeypants app (available for download on the App Store) is an album of algorithmically generated, listener-interactive electronica. As an extension of iMonkeypants, Ryan founded Headless Monkey Attack, a collaborative project blending live instrumental performance with electronic dance music synthesized in real time from code in the RTcmix programming language.
Raised in Wisconsin, Ryan holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory (BMus), Stony Brook University (MA), and New York University (PhD), where his teachers included Richard Hoffmann, Pauline Oliveros, Daniel Weymouth, Elizabeth Hoffman, and Matthias Pintscher. Ryan has pursued additional studies with Louis Andriessen and Gilius van Bergeijk at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague (the Netherlands) and with Brad Garton at the Computer Music Center at Columbia University. Ryan is currently Associate Professor of Music at Hamilton College.
Ryan Carter composes music for instruments, voices, and computers. Ryan's work often explores new musical possibilities presented by emerging technologies, while remaining critical of the assumptions and unintended side effects embedded in them. Alternately playful, quirky, visceral, and intense, his music has been described by the New York Times as "imaginative ... like, say, a Martian dance party." Ryan has been commissioned by Carnegie Hall, the MATA Festival, the National Flute Association, and many ensembles, with support from the the American Composers Forum, the Jerome Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Ryan has collaborated with the Berkeley Symphony, the Calder Quartet, the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Hub New Music, the International Contemporary Ensemble, JACK Quartet, the Metropolis Ensemble, Mivos Quartet, the Nieuw Ensemble, NOW Ensemble, Present Music and the Milwaukee Children's Choir, the Princeton Laptop Orchestra, Seth Parker Woods, Transient Canvas, and Yarn/Wire. Awards include the Aaron Copland Award, the LA Phil Prize at Hack Music LA, the Lee Ettelson Award, the Left Coast Composition Contest, the National Association of Composers/USA Composer's Competition, and the Publikumspreis at the Heidelberg Spring Festival. His debut portrait album can be heard on KAIROS Records. In addition to composing acoustic music, Ryan is an avid computer musician and programmer. His iMonkeypants app (available on the App Store) is an album of algorithmically generated, listener-interactive electronica for iOS. Ryan holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory (BMus), Stony Brook University (MA), and New York University (PhD). Ryan is Associate Professor of Music at Hamilton College.
Ryan Carter composes music that explores and critically examines new possibilities presented by emerging technologies. Described by the New York Times as "imaginative ... like, say, a Martian dance party," Ryan's music has been commissioned by Carnegie Hall, the MATA Festival, the National Flute Association, and many individuals and ensembles.
© Ryan Carter 2024