Ryan Suleiman

Ryan Suleiman was born in California to Lebanese and Mid-Western parents. His music engages with dreaming, the natural world, and the understated beauty of everyday life. His one-act chamber opera, Moon, Bride, Dogs, was described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “a gem” with “an aesthetic that is at once so strange and so accessible.” While his artistic interests vary, he seeks ways of conveying the simultaneity of beauty and dread that characterizes our times.

Ryan’s musical output consists of numerous works for orchestra, opera, a puppet show, solo and chamber ensemble, singers, and a piano concerto. In addition to working closely with musicians, he loves collaborating with artists across discipline, and has worked with dancers, writers, puppets, and visual artists. He has been featured by numerous ensembles and festivals, including Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, West Edge Opera, the Sacramento State Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Mise-en, Juventas, June in Buffalo, and the Summer Institute of Contemporary Performance Practice. His piano cycle, Under Moonlight, was recorded by Jai Jeffryes in his solo album, Amethyst, distributed by Naxos.

Recent projects include an opera called The School for Girls who Lost Everything in the Fire, a work for socially-distanced soprano and ensemble, and several new solo and chamber works. His podcast, Reflections on Music and Nature, explores the intersection of this topic in the activist and philosophical sense through interviews with musicians.

​Ryan completed his Ph.D. at University of California, Davis, where he wrote his dissertation on Unsuk Chin’s Cello Concerto through the lens of dreams and performance. He is currently an Assistant Professor at Berklee College of Music and has held teaching positions at the Sacramento State School of Music and UC Davis. He currently resides in Boston with his partner and several furry animals. More information available at www.ryansuleiman.com.