John Ryan
French Horn
John Ryan began playing the horn with Pádraig Diggin and the Rathfarnham Concert Band in Dublin. He graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2001, studying with Jeffrey Bryant and Richard Bissill. He was appointed Co-Principal horn of the London Symphony Orchestra in the same year.
In 2009, John was appointed Principal Horn of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
As soloist, he has performed the Strauss and Mozart Horn Concertos throughout the UK and Europe, and Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with tenors Mark Padmore, Toby Spence and Robin Tritschler. He has recorded Mozart's Second Horn Concerto for the Lyric label with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and features as soloist on the LPO Live label performing Messaien's Des Canyons aux Etoiles with Christoph Eschenbach.
He also enjoys the occasional foray into chamber music, performing the Brahms and Ligeti Horn Trios, the Mozart Horn Quintet and features on the LPO Live recording of Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante with Vladimir Jurowski.
As a recording artist for film and TV, John has worked with many of the main film composers of the last 20 years, including John Williams, Hans Zimmer, Howard Shore, James Newton Howard, Danny Elfman, Alexander Desplat, Thomas Newman and James Horner. He appears on the LPO’s recording of Collage, written by James Horner for Horn Quartet, with David Pyatt, Richard Watkins and Jim Thatcher.
One of the most enjoyable aspects of playing for John is the diversity of roles and situations the horn can find itself in. This has seen him perform with artists as diverse as The Divine Comedy, Herbie Hancock, Florence and the Machine, Rod Stewart, Stormzy and Ray Davies as well as making appearances at Ronnie Scott's and Buckingham Palace. He also played in the world's largest marching band (at the time!) at the opening of the Olympic Games in Sydney, although (and whisper it) he hardly played a note, preferring to focus his limited capacity for multi tasking on putting one foot in front of the other, thus avoiding untimely televised collisions.
John is a Horn Professor at the Royal College of Music in London and has taught at conservatoires in Ireland, Japan, Korea, Europe and the US, including the Julliard School and the Manhattan School of Music in New York.