The music of Ryan Yard is characterised by its eclecticism and strong sense of melody and rhythm influenced by his childhood upbringing on popular music. By age 15 Ryan had already started to drift away from the music his family listened to in order to explore for himself new musical paths. The instrumental world of Jean Michel Jarre and Mike Oldfield first tuned him into musical composition without lyrics and by age 16 he was already writing and composing music despite no formal musical training.
This soon changed upon the discovery of classical music, a form of music that had not been made available to him as a child and soon he was devouring anything classical. Alongside this came formal classical piano training which lasted intensively for a period of 7 years and allowed Ryan to develop the technical mastery of the instrument that would have ordinarily taken many more years to attain.
During his A Levels, Ryan first encountered the music of New York Minimalist Steve Reich and this proved to be the crucial point where he decided to embark on a career as a composer and put his desires as a concert pianist in the background. Whilst composing, Ryan continued playing piano recitals and became in great as an accompanist. By 2004 Ryan had developed a rich and varied portfolio as a composer which gained him access into the prestigious Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in the vibrant musical city of Cardiff Wales.Under the esteemed guidance of composer Lynn Plowman, Ryan spent 4 years working, developing and learning his trade to express his inner musical ideas.
As well as composing for a variety of ensembles including the PM Ensemble, InTransit Ensemble, the Mavron Quartet and many more, Ryan was selected from a group of his contemporaries to have his first orchestral work Lamentation performed and recorded by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Composer Andrew Downes described the epic orchestral work as ‘an exquisite piece’ whilst praising it for its ‘lovely sense of lyrical and deeply felt melody and harmony’.
Other notable works from this period include the massive and yearning Violin Concerto which won the RWCMD Composition Prize in 2006. The following year saw Ryan grab the award once more with his oppressive and deeply atmospheric work The Chamber which was premiered in May 2007 to critical acclaim.
During his time as
a student, Ryan also composed and acted as musical director for 2 large
scale theatre shows which took to the streets of Cardiff and showed
once more an increasing versatility as a composer and musician.
Other notable past projects include the recording of his first solo
piano album Means of Escape which has since proved increasingly popular
both in its CD and limited edition DVD format.
