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The American bass-baritone, Ryan Downey, graduated with highest honors from Arizona State University, receiving his Bachelor of Music degree in Voice Performance (2005-2009). He received his Master of Music degree in Voice Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music (2009-2011), where he won the Elizabeth Stoeckler Stevens Prize in German Lieder. At CIM, he had the opportunity to work and coach with Michael Tilson Thomas, Warren Jones, Lori Laitman, and George Darden. He was awarded a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Voice from Arizona State University (2013-2017), during which he explored performances of Duke Ellington's First Sacred Concert in Phoenix, Arizona. The project was a culmination of archival research from collections throughout Arizona and the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.
Throughout his career, Ryan Downey has performed roles in W.A. Mozart's Così fan tutte, Ariadne auf Naxos, La traviata, Gianni Schicchi, W.A. Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni, George Frideric Handel's Serse, and Douglas Moore's Gallantry. He has sung with the GRAMMY Award-Winning Phoenix Chorale (August 2012-May 2017), GRAMMY nominated True Concord Voices and Orchestra (since 2013), Arizona Opera Chorus, American Bach Soloists (Director: Jeffrey Thomas), Oregon Bach Festival, and Trinity Cathedral Choir and has taught voice in private and collegiate voice studios (since June 2013). In 2015, he received a competitive grant through Northern Trust and Virginia G. Piper to start a salon concert series in his home. Each concert brings together local musicians and audiences from different genres of music, including jazz, rock, a cappella, folk, and classical music.
Ryan Downey's teaching is student-focused in the sense that it pushes students of all backgrounds to find their voices through self-discovery and self-evaluation. The entirety of his teaching is guided and informed by each unique, individual student with whom he works and he believes it is essential that each student has personal say in the way they learn, how they question, and the way they thrive. |
