Ensemble Bio

The nationally recognized New Music Ensemble at Grand Valley State University is dedicated to bringing audiences the most significant music of our time. Founded in 2006 by its director Bill Ryan, the ensemble performs an incredible variety of music. From landmark compositions of the Twentieth Century, to the most recent works of this new century, their concerts are stimulating, entertaining and unpredictable.

The group has been profiled in numerous publications including Newsweek, the New York Times, and Billboard Magazine, and featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition, All Things Considered, and WNYC's Radiolab. They performed at the 2007 Bang On a Can Marathon in New York, at the 2008 College Music Society National Conference in Atlanta, in 2009 as members of the all-star ensemble assembled by the Kronos Quartet to perform on the "In C" 45th Anniversary concert at Carnegie Hall, at New York’s Le Poisson Rouge, and at the 2011 Make Music New York summer festival.

The ensemble has released three critically acclaimed recordings named to best release lists by the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Weekly, Time Out Chicago, and many others. A track from their second CD, In C Remixed, was recently heard on MTV's new hit series Teen Wolf. Their first CD, Steve Reich's, Music for 18 Musicians, was recently named one of the top five classical recordings of the decade by WNYC’s John Schaefer, as well as being named the #1 classical recording of the decade in the WNYC Soundcheck listener poll.

Actively engaged in the creation of new works, the ensemble has commissioned and premiered compositions by Marc Mellits, Belinda Reynolds, Robin Cox, Rob Smith, and Kurt Ellenberger, as well as over seventy-five GVSU student compositions. Their YouTube videos recently passed one million views, all without the aid of a cat or Lady Gaga tune.

PRESS QUOTES

“The Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble is at the forefront of contemporary repertory groups, alongside other established groups including Kronos Quartet, Alarm Will Sound, So Percussion, Bang on a Can and Germany's Ensemble Modern.” ALL ABOUT JAZZ

“The Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble - the band of Michigan undergraduates whose CD of Steve Reich's "Music for 18 Musicians" was the surprise new-music hit of 2007 - has struck again.” SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

“The players of the Grand Valley ensemble play with giddy exuberance and energy, rhythmic drive and an exceptional tonal blend.” DETROIT FREE PRESS

“The members of Grand Valley State's ensemble play with a confident swing…To put it another way, these kids are a trip.” NEWSWEEK

“A hyper-propulsive and yet silkily beautiful, entrancing and utterly alive interpretation that more than holds its own." BILLBOARD

"The Michigan musicians play with glistening precision, yet they also bring out the variously jubilant and wistful emotions beneath the surface of Reich’s score. The result is a vibrant recording that deserves to leap from the new-music ghetto onto the mainstream charts." NEW YORKER