Nash Ryder

Hailed by violinist James Ehnes as "mesmerizing," Dr. Nash Ryder began playing violin at the age of seven. He 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.

He earned his B.M. and M.M. in violin performance from the Juilliard School and was the first student in the institution's history to receive both undergraduate honors and an accelerated graduate degree. He later received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music.

Featured on the highly acclaimed NPR radio show 'From the Top' in his youth, Nash has since performed in a wide variety of venues internationally and nationally, performing in festivals such as the Conservatoire Américain de Fontainebleau in France, the Lake District Music Festival in England, the Sarasota Music Festival, the Bowdoin International Music Festival, Meadowmount School of Music and the Colorado College Summer Music Festival.

He has been a featured soloist with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, Ars Flores Symphony Orchestra, the New England String Ensemble, White Mountain Bach Festival Orchestra, the Frost Symphony Orchestra, I Solisti di Miami, and the Colorado College SMF Orchestra.

Former rotating concertmaster and teaching artist of the New World Symphony, Dr. Ryder is currently assistant professor of instruction in violin at the University of Northern lowa and the concertmaster of the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra. He has also regularly performed with the Florida Orchestra, the Portland Symphony Orchestra, the Venice Symphony, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony and Orchestra lowa. In 2024, Dr. Ryder formed the Mesa Duo with internationally-renowned pianist and UNI professor Sean Botkin. Formerly a faculty member at NEMC at the Snow Pond Center for the Arts, he now spends his summers teaching and performing at Rocky Ridge Music in Estes Park, Colorado and SummerKeys, in Maine. Dr. Ryder will release an album of French works for unaccompanied violin on the Centaur Records label in 2025.