Ryan Murray, Principal Pops Conductor

Ryan Murray

Principal Pops Conductor

American conductor Ryan Murray has found steady acclaim as a compelling, dynamic and unflappable presence on the podium. Ryan is currently Principal Pops Conductor for the Modesto Symphony, Music Director of the Auburn Symphony, and Artistic Director of Music in the Mountains. An award-winning opera conductor, Ryan spent his early career working as an assistant conductor and répétiteur, and is currently the Music Director of Opera Modesto. He has served as an assistant conductor at the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera, is the past Music Director of Fresno Grand Opera, and previously worked as a staff conductor for the Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute (BASOTI) and The Opera Academy of California in San Francisco. Effortlessly moving between genres, Ryan currently enjoys a wide range of performance genres & platforms, including traditional orchestral and operatic repertoire, pops performances, movies in concert, and a notable emphasis on contemporary American operatic works.

Ryan was the winner of the Vienna Philharmonic’s prestigious Ansbacher Fellowship for Young Conductors, and spent the summer in residence alongside the Vienna Philharmonic at the 2014 Salzburg Festival. Ryan was also awarded second place in the 2019 American Prize for Professional Orchestral Conducting for his work with the Modesto Symphony, and has garnered national recognition for his dynamic, compelling performances of contemporary opera as the winner of the 2017 American Prize in Opera Conducting for his highly lauded production of A Streetcar Named Desire. He was a 2016 semi-finalist for the Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for the Performance of American Music for his production of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking.

A charismatic pops conductor, Ryan has worked with prominent artists such as Storm Large of Pink Martini, SuperDiamond and the phenomenal symphonic tribute to David Bowie. He was recently engaged to step-in at the last minute as assistant and cover conductor for Andrea Bocelli's Believe Tour with the Sacramento Philharmonic where he conducted rehearsals to acclaim. He has led some of the top vocalists from Broadway and beyond, including Ben Crawford (Broadway's The Phantom of the Opera), Ashley Brown (Broadway's Mary Poppins), and Alli Mauzey (Glinda from Wicked), as well as some of today's top young jazz vocalists including Tony DeSare and James Tormé. With an enthusiasm for film scores, Ryan enjoys the unique challenges of conducting movies in concert and was recently added the the Disney & ICM Approved Conductors list. Recent and upcoming performances include Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pixar Animation Studios' Pixar in Concert, Star Wars: A New Hope and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.

Ryan holds degrees, summa cum laude, in Bassoon Performance and Voice Performance from California State University, Sacramento and also holds a master’s degree, with distinction, in Music Business from the Berklee College of Music where he studied with industry professionals to develop tools for success in the modern music industry, including new technology, policy, law and finance. Ryan has a strong commitment to education and currently serves as the Director of Symphony Orchestra & Opera at California State University, Sacramento, and as the conductor for the Sacramento Youth Symphony's premier orchestra. Driven by a lifelong passion for learning, Ryan has attended conducting masterclasses and seminars around the world. Ryan recently conducted the Romanian Chamber Orchestra in concert and was one of just eight conductors worldwide to be invited to the Musiikin aika Summer Festival Masterclass in Finland led by Susanna Mälkki. He has previously attended the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music's Conductors Workshop; the contemporary music symposium led by Alan Gilbert featuring the New York Philharmonic; the Aurora Chamber Festival in Sweden, where he studied under Maestro Kurt Masur; the Lucerne Festival Academy’s Conducting Masterclass in Switzerland; and the Eastman School of Music’s Summer Conducting Institute. Widely praised for his tireless work ethic, natural poise, and impassioned, inspired performances, Ryan continues to connect deeply with orchestras and audiences alike, and has proven to be a formidable presence on the podium.

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Upcoming Concerts

Johanna Borenstein, principal flute

Johanna Borenstein is an active orchestral and studio musician in Los Angeles and Principal Flute of the Modesto Symphony. She frequently plays with LA Opera, Pasadena Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Santa Barbara Symphony and Long Beach Symphony. As a studio musician she has been on movies such as Star Wars IX, Call of the Wild, The Mandalorian, Spies in Disguise, The Grinch, The Greatest Showman, Family Guy among many others. Johanna holds degrees from The Hartt School of Music, San Francisco Conservatory and The Colburn School. She has studied with John Wion, Tim Day and Jim Walker. Since the pandemic Johanna has started a small business making one of a kind Suncatchers, her store Crystal Dracorium is on Etsy. 

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johanna-borenstein-69257a15

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Performances

David Granger, principal bassoon

David Granger currently resides in the San Francisco Bay area where he works as a freelance musician performing in orchestras throughout northern California. He currently holds positions as principal bassoonist of the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra, the Modesto Symphony Orchestra, the Fremont Symphony. and is a member of the Oakland East Bay Symphony and Marin Symphony.

In 1982, Mr. Granger began teaching at the University of California, Davis, and in 1985, became coordinator of the music department’s student chamber music program, a position he held until 2011. He joined the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley, in 2000. He has also taught at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, where he performed with the Pacific Arts Woodwind Quintet, and at California State University-Stanislaus.

Born in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, Mr. Granger began studies at the age of 8 on clarinet. His clarinet teacher, Michael Spielman, principal bassoonist of the Kansas City Philharmonic, encouraged his talented student to switch to bassoon at the age of 13.

After studying two years at the University of Kansas with Austin Ledwith, Mr. Granger received his Bachelor of Music in 1973 and his Master of Music in 1975 from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. His teachers included Harold Goltzer of the New York Philharmonic, Elias Carmen, formerly of the NBC Symphony under Toscanini, and Stephen Maxym of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. In 1974 he won the school’s annual concerto competition and performed the Weber Concerto in F Major with the Manhattan School of Music Orchestra. From 1973 to 1977, Mr. Granger was a member of the prestigious National Orchestral Association, a training orchestra for young professionals that regularly performed in Carnegie Hall.

From 1975 to 1981, Mr. Granger worked in the busy freelance world of New York City, performing with a number of that city's famous orchestras as well as pursuing an active chamber music career. He was a founding member of the Manhattan Woodwind Quintet, resident quintet at the C. W. Post Center of Long Island University and winner of the 1978 Artists International Competition. The ensemble made its Carnegie Recital Hall debut in 1979. In 1981, Mr. Granger commuted to Florida to play principal bassoon in the West Palm Beach Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Granger was principal bassoonist of the Sacramento Symphony from 1981 until its bankruptcy in 1996. Mr. Granger was a strong advocate of symphonic music while in Sacramento. When the Sacramento Symphony first ceased operations in December 1992, Mr. Granger, with other musicians and dedicated music lovers, created the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra, a musician managed symphony (no association with the current organization with this name.) As President of the Philharmonic, he helped keep the symphony musicians performing for Sacramento audiences through the spring of 1993. With the revival of the Sacramento Symphony in 1993. Mr. Granger served as Secretary of the Board of Directors, and continued his active role as coordinator of the Sacramento Symphony’s very successful 1995 and 1996 World View Music Festivals.

Mr. Granger attended Indiana University's Early Music Institute and received a Performers Diploma in Baroque bassoon in 2004. In 2005, he founded Passamezzo Moderno, a period ensemble that performs the music of three centuries, from 1530 to 1830, and specializes in the virtuoso instrumental music of the 17th century.

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Performances