Dan Ryan, COF Orchestra & Choral Conductor
Maestro Daniel P. Ryan is a multi-hyphenate musician acclaimed for his musical creativity, relentless inventiveness, and adventurous spirit. A native of Greater Boston, Daniel’s work spans many different mediums and genres as a prized conductor, composer, educator, and singer. He currently serves as the Artistic Director of VOICES Boston, Co-Founder of The Gena Branscombe Project, on faculty at Interlochen Arts Camp, and as the newly named conductor of the Colleges of the Fenway Orchestra and Chorus.
Daniel has conducted hundreds of concerts, operas, and musicals, and was a two-time finalist for the American Prize. With the advent of Covid-19, Daniel has cemented himself as an innovative leader passionate about the persistence of healthy and high-quality music performance, training, and collaboration. As the former Co-Artistic Director of MassOpera, he made headlines with his opera truck brainchild, #SocialDistanSing, personally driving live opera from the back of his pickup to over 35 locations during the first year of the pandemic and serving Boston’s homebound, veteran, low-income, and disabled communities. His campaign #MassOperaVotes committed hundreds of singers throughout the nation to both vote in the 2020 election and sing at the polls. And in Fall 2021, Daniel conceived, orchestrated, and conducted 18 sold-out performances of a site-specific La Traviata at the Historic New England’s Eustis Estate that was hailed as “intimate and immaculate.”
With a deep commitment to supporting the next generation of music makers, Daniel has blazed a path in music education and training during Covid. With the premier children’s choir VOICES Boston, Daniel created ZoomBopping to provide both safe performance opportunities and surprise melodies and motivation to classrooms and corporations worldwide; inaugurated VOICES Innovation: online courses teaching students across the country music technology software; and collaborated with White Snake Projects on Alice in the Pandemic, the first CGI animated opera performed remote and live on an online platform which the Wall Street Journal recognized as “a remarkable new environment for operatic experimentation.” Additionally, each summer, Daniel serves as a music director and vocal coach at Interlochen Arts Camp.
Daniel’s compositions and arrangements sit at the crossroads of classical music, rock, and golden age musical theatre. Past commissions include Putnam Chorale Youth Chorus, VOICES Boston, and In Good Company Theatre. Current projects in development include the new musical Lessons from Brimfield (workshop premiere at the Brimfield Antique Market in May 2022); original choral music for Christina, a new play by Alexis Scheer; and restoring and reviving Gena Branscombe’s lost choral-orchestral masterwork Pilgrims of Destiny.
Daniel holds a MM from The Boston Conservatory and BA from Catawba College. He is fully vaccinated and boosted, and lives in Brookline with his soon-to-be wife Alexis and their mini Aussie Sagan. When he is not actively conducting, composing, or teaching music you can find him in the woods, or staring at the stars, dreaming about it.
Questions about Chorus or Orchestra email: Dan Ryan at dpryan12@gmail.com
Jason Whiting, COF Jazz Band Director
Jason has been active in the Boston music scene since 1999. Currently he is an Adjunct Instructor at Emmanuel College, where his responsibilities include teaching Performance Techniques/Advanced Performance Techniques for the Singing Actor, music directing their spring production, and teaching piano and vocal lessons. Jason also works at MCPHS as an Administrative Assistant in the Pharmacy Practice. As a music director Jason has had the pleasure to work with The Player’s Ring (Portsmouth, NH), F.U.D.G.E. Theatre Company, Emmanuel College, Bentley College, Suffolk University, Milton Players and Arlington Friends of the Drama. He has also run summer drama camps through the Westwood Recreation Department, and was music director and co-director for the Angier After School Program musical theatre program. He expanded his love of jazz under Dr. John Entzi at Northwest Missouri State University, having the opportunity to perform in Chicago, and to also take his trio up to performances in Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa and North Dakota. Jason is excited for this opportunity to be continuing his musical journey with the Jazz Band and the COF!
Questions about Jazz Band email: Jason Whiting at jasonrobertwhiting@gmail.com