Ryan McAdams

Music Director, New York Youth Symphony
2010 Sir Georg Solti Emerging Conductor Award Winner
Conductors

Manager: William G. Guerri
Management Territory: Worldwide

Such a program of often-heard works can be welcome if the performance is extraordinary. This was indeed the case with Sheherazade. The masterful conducting of the American Ryan McAdams impressively highlighted the work’s abundant tone colors, produced flexible, fresh-sounding tempi that had nothing mechanical about them, never leaving a dull moment, and created immense dramatic tension. Moreover, the orchestra sounded well-coordinated, excellently balanced and transparent and under perfect control. It was like hearing this familiar work for the first time. —Jerusalem Post - May 20, 2012 - Ury Eppstein

Last night this fine ensemble raised their artistic bar even higher, due in very large part to the keen musical sensibilities of guest conductor Ryan McAdams who was making his debut on the CityMusic Podium...From the first note to the last, McAdams drew a rich and well-blended sound from the orchestra, in addition to a full range of controlled dynamics: the pianissimos were truly soft and the fortissimos were full but never harsh. Most importantly, this was a concert of musical substance and McAdams and the CityMusic musicians together created musical magic. —ClevelandClassical.com - October 12, 2011 - Mike Telin

At the first concert of the week Wednesday at Fairmount Presbyterian Church in Cleveland Heights, McAdams shaped the Ligeti with fine attention to detail and texture...McAdams began with the Beethoven overture, giving the opening pages ample breadth before taking the musicians through an explosive and invigorating journey...Much of the performance's strength emanated from McAdams, who was alert to Vogler's every move and maintained close contact with the orchestra. —The Cleveland Plain Dealer - October 12, 2011 - Donald Rosenberg

About

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. His recent subscription debut with the Israel Philharmonic, replacing an indisposed Raphael Frühbeck de Burgos, was hailed as "extraordinary," "masterful," and "immense[ly] dramatic" by the . . . Jerusalem Post. His work as the 15th Music Director of the New York Youth Symphony has been called "electrifying," "excellent" and "essential" by the New York Times.

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. 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 first commercial recording, a live performance of John Zorn's Violin Concerto "Contes de Fees," was released in 2010 on the composer's label.

His appearances in 2012-13 include return subscription engagements with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, CityMusic Cleveland, Indianapolis Symphony, and debuts with Opera Theater of St. Louis, Louisville Orchestra, Tanglewood BUTI Orchestra, the Meltdown Festival at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, and the Orchestre symphonique et lyrique de Nancy. Recent highlights include appearances with the Israel Philharmonic, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Columbus Symphony, Princeton Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, New York City Opera, New York City Ballet, Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Indianapolis Symphony, CityMusic Cleveland, 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.

Learn More