Biography

Australian organist and accompanist, Joshua Ryan, is quickly establishing a reputation as a performer of great virtuosity and interpretive range. Joshua is a prizewinning graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied as a Bicentenary Scholar under the tutelage of Professor David Titterington. He is establishing himself as one of his generation’s most exciting interpreters of Olivier Messiaen’s organ works, having performed almost all of Messiaen’s religious suites and standalone works. Joshua is currently Organist and Assistant Director of Music of Hampstead Parish Church, Organist of St. Sepulchre-without-Newgate in the City of London, and accompanist of Dulwich Choral Society.

Joshua’s musical interests are diverse and wide ranging. He has worked across Europe and Australia as a soloist, accompanist, and continuo player with a vast array of conductors, singers, choirs, and ensembles including the Academy of Ancient Music, London Mozart Players, Sydney Chamber Choir, Allegri Ensemble, Philippe Herreweghe, John Butt, Rachel Podger, Edward Gardner, Susan Landale, David Ponsford, Hans Davidsson, Eamonn Dougan, Nicky Spence, and Nicholas Mullroy. In 2022 Joshua made his debut performance at Wigmore Hall with the Academy Baroque Soloists under the direction of Rachel Podger.

Joshua has also featured on four critically acclaimed discs as the accompanist with the Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea and William Vann recorded for the SOMM and Albion labels. Reviews by BBC Radio 3 have described his accompanying as “wonderful and beautiful” and “full of colour.” Joshua is also immensely passionate about premiering and recording new commissions for organ, having been involved in the Royal Academy of Music’s RAM200 project where he worked with composers Morgan Hayes and Louise Drewett on their commissions celebrating the bicentenary of this institution.

Alongside Joshua’s performing, he is also actively involved in musical research. He is the curator of The Mulliner Project, a significant research project on the reinterpretation of the music of The Mulliner Book on a range of historical and modern instruments. The focal point of this project is a collection of recordings exploring different interpretations of little known works by early English composers. For more information you can visit themullinerproject.com to read about and listen to the project.

Throughout his studies and career Joshua has received numerous prizes and awards. He is a Bicentenary Scholar of the Royal Academy of Music, a holder of the prestigious DipRAM award, one of only two organists to receive The University of Sydney’s University Medal, a Tait Memorial Trust awardee, and an Australia Council for the Arts awardee.

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