Grand Valley prof named Guvvy honoree

ALLENDALE, Mich. -- Dr. Bill Ryan of Grand Valley State University's Department of Music will be honored November 13, for his contribution and dedication to the arts, at the 23rd Annual Governor’s Awards for Arts & Culture (The Guvvys), presented at the Detroit Institute of Arts. ArtServe Michigan announced Ryan as an Arts Educator Award honoree, along with two other candidates, the winner being announced at the awards ceremony.

"I am incredibly honored by this news,” said Ryan. “Not only does this mean a lot to me personally, but it also affirms that education of the highest caliber can take place in an environment focused on contemporary music. My students have known this for some time, so it is very satisfying for us all to have this recognition on the state-wide level."

Ryan, who joined the faculty at Grand Valley in 2005, teaches music composition and is founder and producer the university’s Free Play concert series, which allows students to directly interact and learn from some of today’s most successful and professional musicians and ensembles. He is also founder and director of the university’s New Music Ensemble, which has received unprecedented national acclaim over the past year for their performances and commercial recording of Steve Reich’s “Music for Eighteen Musicians.” 

Last year in June, they were invited to perform at the 20th anniversary of the prestigious Bang on a Can Marathon in New York City. That fall their CD hit the stores and climbed the charts. By December it was named one of the year’s best classical releases by The New York Times. Accolades have poured forth in print, online and on-air media, from Billboard and LA Weekly, to The New Yorker and The Washington Post. In February this year, the ensemble was featured on NPR’s “Weekend Edition Sunday.”

The ensemble will perform at Carnegie Hall in April 2009, by invitation from the Kronos Quartet, for the 45th anniversary of the premiere of Terry Riley’s “In C.” Kronos, plus members of Grand Valley’s New Music Ensemble, will be among a one-time-only gathering of musicians including, Terry Riley and original “In C” performers Stuart Dempster, Jon Gibson, and Pauline Oliveros.

Media may contact Bill Ryan through the Department of Music at (616) 331-3484. For more information about the New Music Ensemble, visit newmusicensemble.org .