Nash Ryder
Violinist Nash Ryder is a native of Kennebunk, Maine and currently resides in Rochester, New York. He began studying violin at the age of seven and attended the New England Conservatory Preparatory School studying with world-renowned pedagogues Anait Arutunian and Donald Weilerstein. Entering the Juilliard School, he received his Bachelor of Music degree, graduating with Academic Distinction and was also awarded his Master of Music degree in the school’s accelerated program under the tutelage of Ronald Copes, member of the Juilliard Quartet, and Frank Huang, concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic. Currently, Nash is working on completing the Doctor of Musical Arts degree program at the Eastman School of Music, studying with Robin Scott.
Nash has performed throughout the country and internationally, including appearances with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, the Fort Lauderdale Symphony Orchestra, Boston’s New England String Ensemble and the White Mountain Bach Festival Orchestra as a featured young artist. He has also performed at the Bowdoin International Music Festival; the Meadowmount Society for Strings; the Sarasota Music Festival; The American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France; and the Lake District Summer Music Festival in Windermere, England; and throughout the Caribbean islands. In 2012, Nash was featured on the National Public Radio radio show From the Top. He had the privilege of being a featured artist at the New England Conservatory’s Contemporary Music Festival for two consecutive years, working closely with Peter Maxwell-Davies and Michael Finnissy on their compositions. In 2018, he received the second prize in the Pro Artists International Music Competition in Paris.
Committed to community service through music engagement, Nash seeks to inspire others with his talents and received recognition from From the Top’s Center for the Development of Arts Leaders for his commitment to developing an after-school string program at the Mattapan Early Elementary School in Boston known as musiConnects. He spent two years teaching music appreciation and violin performance to over thirty underserved children. In addition, he organized many fundraisers to allow the program to purchase instruments and other supplies, and arranged for guest artists such as the Borromeo String Quartet and Indianapolis International Violin Competition finalist Ying Xue to lead masterclasses for the students. Nash helped make enriching educational opportunities such as a field trip to a dress rehearsal of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and a backstage tour of Symphony Hall possible for these students. More recently, he has put together several benefit concerts to support children with developmental disabilities at the Ashley Learning Center in the Turks and Caicos Islands, raising a total of over $40,000 for the organization.
He has worked and performed in masterclasses for prominent artists such as David Chan; Pamela Frank; James Ehnes; ; Mark O’Connor; Joseph Silverstein; the Quatuor Ébène; and Jan Mark Sloman.
A passionate student of the French language and France’s culture, he has spent two summers performing and experiencing life in France. He loves anything and everything Hollywood, reading, running, and is a life-long cat person.