About Ryan

Ryan Suleiman was born in California to Lebanese and Midwestern parents. As a composer, he is most inspired by dream logic, the natural world, and the understated beauty of the present moment. His one-act chamber opera, Moon, Bride, Dogs, was described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “a gem” with “an aesthetic that is at once so strange and so accessible.” Though his interests vary, he is motivated by a desire to explore the simultaneity of beauty and dread that is our world.

Current and recent projects include a new commission for the Lowell Chamber Orchestra, a song cycle for soprano Dana Varga on Syrian-French poet Maram al-Masri, and Three London Etudes in collaboration with pianist Sakurako Kanemitsu & artist Peter London, and collaborations with West Edge Opera. He recently co-produced a portrait concert in collaboration with The Fourth Wall Ensemble called Symbiosis, which embraced the connection between theatricality and classical music, premiered at Boston Conservatory.

Above all, Ryan asks in his work, “what is music and what is it doing?” Over the years, this has led to a variety of compositional approaches, from approaching structure through the lens of dreams and phenomenology, exploring philosophical and mystical aspects of the natural world, creating space for mindfulness and contemplation, to music and activism – many of these themes culminating in his Piano Concerto. His dissertation, “Dreaming and Performing in Unsuk Chin’s Cello Concerto,” is an analysis inspired by dreams and ethnomusicology, and his interview series, “Reflections on Music and Nature,” explores the connection between music, ecology, and activism.