Biography

Ryan Jesperson (1981) is a composer whose music is steeped in the modern practice of blurring genres and skewing expectations. With a taste for eccentric rhythms and dissonant chord progressions, Ryan’s music alludes to his jazz and rock roots while still firmly ensconced in the modern classical tradition. In 2011 Ryan completed a Doctorate in Music Composition at the University of Missouri-Kansas City where he was a Chancellor’s Doctoral Fellow, President of the Composer’s GUILD, and student senator. His dissertation, Songs from Behind the Curtain: an opera in three acts was awarded the 2011 UMKC Outstanding Dissertation Award. Ryan also holds an MM and an AD from the University of Hartford, and a BM and BA from Washington State University. His principal compositions teachers included Chen Yi, Zhou Long, James Mobberley, Larry Alan Smith, Robert Carl, Stephen Gryc, Charles Argersinger and Gregory Yasinitsky.

Ryan’s compositions have been performed across the country and abroad, with performances at numerous SCI and NACUSA concerts, the UCM New Music Festival, the Nebraska at Kearney New Music Festival, the Kalv Festival, and the ReJoyce Festival among others. Recent performances include Indeed, this very Love, by the grammy-winning Kansas City Chorale, fragments and memories by Jordan Jacobson and the Hartford Independent Chamber Orchestra, Farbenmusik by Amanda Arrington in Nebraska, Missouri, and New York City, and the premiere of I. Jest by Robert Olson and the UMKC Orchestra.  Upcoming performances include Orphée Redux by Rhymes with Opera and the West End String Quartet, Not Death, but Love by the Ineo Saxophone Quartet, A Page Out of Zen by David Tayloe, Hebdomas Squatinae by the Verismo Trio, and Rhapsody for Dean Moriarty by jazz legend Bobby Watson and the UMKC Jazz Band. Ryan recently completed a full-length opera, Songs from Behind the Curtain, which served as his doctoral dissertation.

Winner of the 2013 Verismo Trio/WMTA Composition Competition, the 2011 Gerald Kemner Prize for Orchestral Composition, the 2010 Beethoven Club/Belvedere Chamber Festival Composition Contest, the 2010 KC Chorale Composition Competition, and the 2009 British Trombone Society Composition Contest, Ryan has also been honored by NACUSA, the College Music Society, ASCAPLUS, the Lional Hampton Jazz Festival, FASR, and Phi Beta Kappa.  Also an educator, Ryan was a member of the music faculty at the Hartford Conservatory and has taught at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the University of Hartford.  He is currently teaching computer applications in Hartford and is a Dad-in-training. Ryan is published through Sound Music Publications and Warwick Music, as well as his own imprint, Jazzperson Music.  You can find out more at www.ryanjesperson.com.

 

updated 1/22/2012

The future: Bobby Watson and the UMKC Big Band will premiere Rhapsody for Dean Moriarty in Kansas City, MO.

The future: Ashly Evans will premiere Birdsongs in Houston, TX.

The future: Jeux pour Jumeaux will be premiered in San Francisco, CA.

fall, 2013: Ryan Ford will perform BA(da)SS in Hartford, CT.

summer/fall, 2013: The Agosto Duo will premiere a new work for oboe and english horn.

summer, 2013: David Tayloe will premiere A Page Out of Zen.

summer, 2013: Hebdomas Squatinae will be performed by the SoundScape Trio in South America.

June, 2013: Hebdomas Squatinae (new version for fl, asax,pno) will be premiered by the Verismo Trio in Wyoming at the WMTA convention.

May 26th, 2013: Joseph Abad and Marko Stuparovic will perform Icarus in West Hartford, CT.

April 22nd, 2013: Jordan Jacobson will perform fragments and memories with the HICO Orchestra in CT.

April 20th, 2013: Jordan Jacobson will perform fragments and memories with the HICO Orchestra in CT.

April 19-20, 2013: The UMKC Opera Dept. will perform portions of Songs from Behind the Curtain.

April 7th, 2013: Joseph Abad and Marko Stuparovic will premiere Icarus in West Hartford, CT.

March 24th, 2013: Getz Going: A Suite for Eddie Sauter will be performed by Sheri Brown and the West End String Quartet in Hartford, CT.

February 21st, 2013: Not Death, but Love will be performed by the Ouroboros Quartet at a Misha-maya-gat event in Manchester, CT.

October 18th, 2012: Sheri Brown and others will perform Getz Going: A Suite for Eddie Sauter in Manchester, CT.

October 14th, 2012: Sheri Brown and others will perform Getz Going: A Suite for Eddie Sauter in Hartford, CT.

August 23rd, 2012: Sheri Brown and others will premiere Getz Going: A Suite for Eddie Sauter on a Hartford Phase Shift concert.

June 23rd, 2012: Ryan Ford will perform BA(da)SS at the New Hampshire Bass Fest

June 7th, 2012 7pm: A concert of the works of Ryan Jesperson will be presented at the Hartt School in West Hartford CT.

Performers: Joseph Abad, Chris Belluscio, Sheri Brown, Ryan Ford, Jordan Jacobson, Anastasia Seifetdinova, Sarah Washburn, The Hartt Vocal Quartet, and The INEO Sax Quartet!

Works: BA(da)SS, Boombox Serenade, fragments and memories, Not Death, but Love, Obscure Songs, Romanza for Alto Sax and Violin

May 31st, 2012: The Invisible, Magic, Soccer Phone will be premiered in Middlefield, CT.

May 27th, 2012: Jordan Jacobson and Anastasia Seifetdinova will perform fragments and memories on a CCI concert in CT.

EVENT HISTORY