Nash Ryder

  Hailed as “mesmerizing” by violinist James Ehnes, Dr. Nash Ryder began playing the violin at the age of seven and went on to study with world-renowned artists and pedagogues Donald Weilerstein, Anait Arutunian, Ronald Copes, Frank Huang, Scott Flavin, Jan Mark Sloman, and Robin Scott.

Dr. Ryder earned his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in violin performance from The Juilliard School, becoming the first student in the institution’s history to graduate with undergraduate Academic Honors and also receive an accelerated master’s degree. He was later awarded a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music.

As a soloist, he has appeared with the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra, the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, Ars Flores Symphony Orchestra, the New England String Ensemble, White Mountain Bach Festival Orchestra, Frost Symphony Orchestra, I Solisti di Miami, and the Colorado College Summer Music Festival Orchestra.

Dr. Ryder has shared the stage with artists including Josh Groban, Linda Eder, Joshua Bell, Itzhak Perlman, Joseph Silverstein, Ilya Kaler, Jeffrey Zeigler, and members of the Ying Quartet, among others.

Formerly a rotating concertmaster and teaching artist with the New World Symphony, Dr. Ryder was recently appointed Assistant Professor of Violin at Florida Gulf Coast University and serves as Concertmaster of the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed regularly with the Florida Orchestra, Portland Symphony Orchestra, Venice Symphony, and Orchestra Iowa.  Dedicated to igniting positive social change through music, Dr. Ryder leads an annual concert series in Turks and Caicos Islands, bringing musicians and ensembles from around the world to perform in the Caribbean.  The concerts support Ashley’s Learning Center, an independent therapy and education center for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

He is a faculty member at Rocky Ridge Music Center in Colorado and has previously served on the faculties of the University of Northern Iowa and NEMC at the Snow Pond Center for the Arts. 

He will be teaching - July 13-17; August 10-14