Ryan Reynolds

About Ryan

Dr. Ryan Reynolds is the bassoonist of the Akropolis Reed Quintet, and Lecturer of Bassoon at Eastern Michigan University. An award-winning chamber musician, Dr. Reynolds has won prizes at six national chamber music competitions, including the 

Gold Medal at the 2014 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. He tours internationally as a member of Akropolis and has released five studio albums with the ensemble. The latest of these albums, Hymns for Private Use, was released in October 2022 on Bright Shiny Things, and debuted at #8 on the Billboard Traditional Classical Chart. The ensemble’s sixth album, Are We Dreaming the Same Dream?, with Grammy-nominated composer/pianist Pascal LeBoeuf and drummer Christian Euman, will be released on April 26, 2024. In 2018, his collaboration with legendary clarinetist David Shifrin on the studio recording of a new chamber music version of Carl Nielsen’s Clarinet Concerto was released on Delos Records and nominated for an International Classical Music Award. 

Dr. Reynolds has performed with orchestras throughout the United States including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, and Savannah Philharmonic Orchestra, among many others. An educator, Reynolds has served on the summer faculties of the Renova Music Festival and the Akropolis Chamber Music Institute. He has given masterclasses and lectures in Germany, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, and at many top American universities, including Yale University, the University of Texas-Austin, the University of Michigan, and Northwestern University. Reynolds is also an in-demand adjudicator and has served as a judge or panelist for projects and organizations including the International Double Reed Society, the Barlow Endowment, Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the Calefax International Composers Competition, NOLA Chamber Music Competition, and many collegiate concerto competitions. 

Dr. Reynolds contributes to the International Double Reed Society as the Lead Bassoon Recordings Reviewer for the quarterly journal The Double Reed, and as Chair of the IDRS Commissioning Sub-Committee where he leads the Society’s commissioning programs. Reynolds is also an arranger and composer, and his works are performed by students and professionals around the world. 

A native of Michigan, Dr. Reynolds received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the University of Michigan, and received his Doctor of Music degree from Florida State University. His primary teachers include Eric Stomberg, Jeffrey Lyman, and Jeff Keesecker.