Matthew Ryan is a New York City based violist and string teacher, performing and teaching a wide variety of chamber, orchestral, contemporary, and theatre music, and is a primary member of the Kompass Quartet and the Emo Orchestra.

Hailing from Brisbane, Australia, he holds a Master of Music from New York University, a Graduate Diploma in Music from the University of Queensland, and a Bachelor of Music from the Queensland Conservatorium. He has studied with Karen Ritscher, Patricia Pollett, and Graeme Jennings.

Matthew’s performance experience ranges from classical orchestral, opera, chamber, and historically informed ensembles, to contemporary performance practices including popular music, musical theatre, and studio recording. Orchestral engagements include; the Fall 2023 United States tour of the Emo Orchestra and Hawthorne Heights, “The Gathering – A Collective Sonic Ring Shout” with the American Composer’s Orchestra, a 2022 fellowship with the Next Festival of Emerging Artists, the 2019 International Tour with the Australian Youth Orchestra in Europe, China, and Australia, the 2019 prodution of Wagner’s Parsifal with the Victorian Opera and Australian Youth Orchestra, performances with the Xi’an Symphony Orchestra in China, a concerto performance with the Queensland Philharmonia Orchestra, participation in the Symphony and Broadway orchestras of New York University, and the orchestras of the University of Queensland and Queensland Conservatorium.

Matthew has extensive experience in chamber music, covering a broad range of styles. As a member of the Kompass Quartet, he undertook a residency with the Craftsbury Chamber Players in Craftsbury VT during their Summer 2023 season, was engaged with the Bread and Puppet Theatre in summer performances of “Deaf Beethoven” a reworking of Beethoven’s Die Grosse Fuge op.143, has been contracted as a performer for conducting students to conduct, and has experience working for corporate functions and weddings. He has been engaged in studio recordings, collaborating with composers and producers including Charlie Morrow, Richard Einhorn, and Lenny White, and with New York University’s screen scoring program.

Matthew is a passionate teacher of the viola and violin, open from beginner musicians to more advanced, serious players. Matthew firmly believes in the principle of “maximum result, minimum effort” - not to be lazy in one’s work, but to find the most efficient and effective way to get the sound that you want, and to share how learning music can positively improve other areas of your life, and to spread the joy of making music in itself.