RYAN McADAMS

Equally at home in the worlds of opera, symphonic repertoire, and contemporary music, American conductor Ryan McAdams has established a strong presence on both sides of the Atlantic. He continues as Principal Conductor of Crash Ensemble, Ireland’s foremost contemporary music group.

Highlights of the 26–27 season include debuts at the Musica Strasbourg Festival with Crash Ensemble and with the Britten Sinfonia, as well as returns to Ulster Orchestra, Welsh National Opera for a symphonic concert, Orchestre National des Pays de Loire, Istanbul State Symphony and I Pomeriggi Musicali, amongst others.

Recent seasons have seen Ryan make his debut with Welsh National Opera conducting Candide, followed by Philip Glass’s La Belle et la Bête at Atlanta Opera, and returns to Irish National Opera for Béatrice et Bénédict and an Opera Gala with the Ulster Orchestra in Derry. Orchestral highlights have included debuts with the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker and Festival Napa Valley, alongside returns to the National Symphony Orchestra Ireland, Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra return this season, Belgian National Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana and a number of leading Italian orchestras. He has developed a particularly close relationship with I Pomeriggi Musicali, most recently leading a tour with pianist Mikhail Pletnev, and has also worked regularly with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, including an all-Beethoven tour of southern Italy.

Other past season highlights include opening the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele with violinist Lawrence Power and Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique; conducting and stage-directing Sweeney Todd for HLO Opera in South Carolina; a special concert with the singers of the National Opera Studio and Welsh National Opera; and his Opernhaus Zürich debut in a revival of Faust. In summer 2022, he joined the regenerative arts and artist-training company Høgfish, conducting Gluck’s L’arbre enchanté.

With Crash Ensemble, he regularly performs at the National Concert Hall’s New Music Dublin Festival and the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Following the highly successful revival and tour of Donnacha Dennehy and Enda Walsh’s The First Child for Irish National Opera, including performances at the Galway International Arts Festival, the world-premiere recording was released by Signum Records in February 2026, with Ryan conducting Crash Ensemble and Irish National Opera. Together, they also premiered the FEDORA Prize-winning The Second Violinist by Dennehy and Walsh, bringing the opera to the Barbican in London and Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam.

Ryan’s discography also includes Donnacha Dennehy’s Limina, due for release by Nonesuch Records in August 2026, for which he conducts the National Symphony Orchestra Ireland in the premiere recordings of Dennehy’s piano concerto Limina, with Eliza McCarthy, and Violin Concerto, with Stephen Waarts.

Past operatic highlights include Faust – Opernhaus Zürich, Carmen – Opera di Roma, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Teatro Regio di Torino, Pearl Fishers – Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Teatro Regio di Torino, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Mozart and Salieri – Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Candide – Opera National de Lorraine, Owen Wingrave – Opera National de Lorraine, Béatrice et Bénédict – Irish National Opera, The Second Violinist – Irish National Opera, The First Child – Irish National Opera, Il barbiere di Siviglia – Opera Theater of St Louis, Così fan tutte – The Juilliard School and Opera Saratoga, Tosca – Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Madama Butterfly – Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Le nozze di Figaro – Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Rigoletto – HLO Opera, Sweeney Todd – HLO Opera, L’arbre enchanté – Høgfish Opera, and L’elisir d’amore – Gulfshore Opera.

Past orchestral highlights include performances with Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, Teatro Regio di Torino, Lirico Sinfonica Petruzzelli di Bari, Kansas City Symphony, Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony in Washington, Vancouver Symphony \(D\.C\.\), Santa Fe Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Orchestre Symphonique et Lyrique de Nancy, Orchestre National d’Île-de-France in Paris, Belgian National Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, L’Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, Israel Philharmonic, and the Moscow State Philharmonic.

He was the first-ever recipient of both the Sir Georg Solti Emerging Conductor Award and the Aspen-Glimmerglass Prize for Opera Conducting. He was a Conducting Fellow at Tanglewood, Associate Conductor of the New York City Opera, and an Assistant Conductor at the Aspen Music Festival and the Glimmerglass Festival. The post of Apprentice Conductor at Lorin Maazel’s Castleton Festival was created for him. As a Fulbright Scholar, he served as Apprentice Conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, assisting then-Chief Conductor Alan Gilbert. Ryan studied at the Juilliard School and Indiana University.