Praised for "amazing virtuosity” by The Chicago Tribune as well as his ability to "show off the instrument's malleability and freakish extended range as well as its delicacy and refinement" by The Chicago Reader, Ryan Muncy is a saxophonist who performs, commissions, and presents new music. His work emphasizes collaborative relationships with composers and artists of his generation and aims to reimagine the way listeners experience the saxophone through contemporary music. He is a recipient of the Kranichstein Music Prize awarded at the 46th International Summer Courses for New Music Darmstadt, a Fulbright Fellowship in France, the Claire Rosen and Samuel Edes Foundation Prize for Emerging Artists, the Harriet Hale Woolley Fellowship of the Fondation des États-Unis Paris, and has participated in the creation of more than 150 new works for the instrument.
His debut solo album Hot was released by New Focus Recordings to critical acclaim, praised as "absorbing" (Alex Ross) and "one of the year's best albums" (Time Out New York). Muncy’s second solo album, ism, was released in 2016 by TUNDRA/New Focus Recordings, with his performances heralded by The Chicago Tribune for their “technical prowess.”
Muncy is the saxophonist of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), a New York-based collective of 36 leading new-music specialists dedicated to reshaping the way music is created and experienced. During the 2018-19 season, the ensemble presented more than 180 concerts worldwide, including 45 presented through OpenICE, the ensemble’s outpouring of programming which is free and public. In addition to his role as saxophonist, Muncy has served as the organization’s Director of Institutional Giving (2014-present) and Co-Director of the OpenICE program (2015-2019). Additionally, he performs regularly with Talea Ensemble, Wet Ink Ensemble, Tilted Head Ensemble, and carries out solo projects each season in the US and Europe.
Muncy has been a soloist at international music festivals including The Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart, the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik Darmstadt (Germany), and at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City) for the U.S. premiere of Karlheinz Stockhausen's Klang, in which the New York Times described his performance of Edentia as a highlight of the entire cycle—"especially memorable... a solitary walker inside a tornado." His collaborations with composer Wang Lu have been a highlight; On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous—their ongoing collaborative project with poet Ocean Vuong and guitarist Dan Lippel—was premiered in 2017, and, in April 2019, he was soloist with the Berlin-based Ensemble Mosaik for the world premiere of Wang Lu’s new work Transplant, Transpose. Additionally, Muncy has been a guest curator for the City of Chicago's Loops and Variations concert series at the Chicago Cultural Center (2013-14) and was a soloist with the Amazonas Philharmonic (Manaus, Brazil) in September 2014 for the second-ever performance of Salvatore Sciarrino's Graffito Sul Mare.
He performs frequently on major stages for contemporary music, including Wien Modern, LA Phil’s Noon to Midnight, Warsaw Autumn, Sacrum Profanum (Krakow), Time Spans Festival (NYC), The Met Museum’s METlive, Montréal Nouvelles Musiques International Festival, the Miller Theater's Composer Portrait Series, The Park Avenue Armory, the U.S. Library of Congress, MATA Festival, Prototype Festival, The Stone, and EMPAC at Rensselear Polytechnic Institute, as well as World Saxophone Congresses in Bangkok and Montreal, TV Em Tempo (Brazil) and classical radio stations WQXR (New York), WFMT (Chicago), including Q2’s Meet The Composer podcast hosted by Nadia Sirota. He has recorded for numerous labels including New Amsterdam, New Focus Recordings, Carrier Records, Kairos, Wergo, and TUNDRA.
Ryan currently serves on the music faculty of The New School's College of Performing Arts (Mannes School of Music) in New York City. He has previously been a faculty member of the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Northern Illinois University's School of Music, and has held numerous residencies and conducted arts management workshops at universities and cultural institutions across North America.
Muncy has built collaborative relationships with many composers whose works he has premiered, including Ashley Fure, Tyshawn Sorey, Steven Takasugi, Chaya Czernowin, George Lewis, Wang Lu, Wojtek Blecharz, Marcos Balter, Anthony Cheung, Christian Wolff, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, and Matana Roberts. His goal of bringing new music to new audiences has led to continental premieres of works by Salvatore Sciarrino, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Georges Aperghis, Beat Furrer, Olga Neuwirth, Mark Andre, Liza Lim, Giorgio Netti, Enno Poppe, Pierluigi Billone, Dai Fujikura, and Hans Thomalla, amongst others.
In 2012, Muncy received the Doctor of Music degree from Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music, where he studied with Frederick L. Hemke. His past teachers include John Sampen (2006 MM, Bowling Green State University), John-Michel Goury (2007 C.O.P., CRR Boulogne-Billancourt, France), Jean-Yves Fourmeau (CNR Cergy-Pontoise, France), George Wolfe (2003 BM, Ball State University), Caroline Hartig, and Ron Jones.
Muncy is a Conn-Selmer Artist and performs on Selmer Paris saxophones.