Ryan Seward is a musician, composer, and artist living in Colorado Springs, Colorado. His work is situated within and across a number of forms, including composition, improvisation, installation, performance, phonography, photography, sculpture, and videography.
Ryan has toured extensively across the United States—especially the Southwest and Great Plains—and has performed at Sine & Symbol Intermedia Arts Festival (Tucson, Arizona); Molten Plains Fest (Denton, Texas); High Desert Soundings (Wonder Valley, California); Tierras Sonidas (Marfa, Texas); and Re:Sound (Cleveland, Ohio). His work has most recently been performed by Galan Trio, TAK ensemble, Filament, and Sam Wells, and presented at Colorado College (Colorado Springs, Colorado); CO-OPt Research + Projects (Lubbock, Texas); Blo Back Gallery (Pueblo, Colorado); Technische Universität Berlin (Berlin, Germany); Washington Street Art Center (Somerville, Massachusetts) for co-incidence festival 2020; Die Station (Neufelden, Austria); California Institute of the Arts (Valencia, California) for The Dog Star Orchestra 15; and Casper College (Casper, Wyoming) for the Second Annual New Music Day. His recordings have been released by Discreet Archive, Editions Glomar, emic rite, Marginal Frequency, Sawyer Editions, and Sawyer Spaces.
He has previously collaborated with Gabriela Areal, Nat Baldwin, Jaap Blonk, Eugene Chadbourne, Tashi Dorji, Sandy Ewen, Douglas Farrand, Esin Gunduz, Simon Labbé, Adam Lion, Llano Estacado Monad Band, Bob Marsh, Cecyl Ruehlen, Daniel Ryan, Bret Sexton, Susan Wolf, Ben Wright, and Jack Wright, among others; and currently collaborates with Kory Reeder and Andrew Weathers. He has also commissioned and premiered the work of composers Eva-Maria Houben and Alexis Porfiriadis.
DISCOGRAPHY
Michael Pisaro-Liu – Concentric Rings in Magnetic Levitation (2026, Sawyer Editions [CD])
Reeder/Seward/Weathers – Two Meditations from the Underground (2025, Editions Glomar, GLOM11 [CD])
James Saunders – with paper (2025, Editions Glomar, GLOM9 [CD])
Ryan Seward & Andrew Weathers – A Probable Shoreline (2025, Discreet Archive [digital])
Manfred Werder – 20083 (2025, Sawyer Spaces, SES025 [CD])
Andrew Weathers – Two Recordings (2025, Editions Glomar, GLOM8 [CD])
Ryan Seward – weathering (2024, Sawyer Editions, SE030 [CD])
Reeder/Seward/Weathers – Two Ballads from the High Plains (2024, Editions Glomar, GLOM4 [CD])
Ryan Seward & Andrew Weathers – Laminar Interiors (2024, Editions Glomar, GLOM3 [CD])
Ryan Seward & Andrew Weathers – On a cloudy day, wind mostly out of the SSW (2024, emic rite, emic 03 [CD])
Ron Coulter / Ryan Seward – Traces (2023, emic rite, emic 02 [cassette])
Ryan Seward & Daniel Ryan – Breccia (2022, Marginal Frequency, MFCS O [cassette])
Sandy Ewen / Ryan Seward – Live at thought//forms gallery (2019, self-release [digital])
Matt Smiley / Ryan Seward – Sense of Place (2017, emic rite, emic 01 [cassette])
Bob Marsh / Michael O’Neill / Ryan Seward – Pueblo 5&6 (2017, self-release [digital])
Bret Sexton / Ryan Seward – Live at Thee Haus Ov Where? Gallery (2017, self-release [digital])
WORKS
Rain fell (2025) for three performers
SH 94 (2024) for piano trio and field recordings
weathering (3) (2024) for reed organ
weathering (2) (2024) for reed organ
weathering (1) (2024) for reed organ
translucent (2023) for any number of performers
transparent (2023) for any number of performers
it is a question of surrendering (2022) for three snare drums activated by miniature loudspeakers and sine tones
scrims (1) (2022) for two performers
lines (for Agnes Martin) (2021) for five or so performers with sustaining instruments
two harmonicas and stones (2021) for two harmonicas and stones
mesh (2021) for two speaking performers with sustaining instruments and radios, and 2- or 4-channel fixed media (field recordings and sine tones)
a tremulous light (2021) for organ
Irrational thoughts should be followed absolutely and logically (2) (2021) for organ
untitled (for Alvin Lucier) (2020) for glockenspiel bars and sine tones
Steel and air, a mottled presence (2020) for trumpet, transducer, and suspended sheet metal
copper pipes drawn over various surfaces (2020) for copper pipes and surfaces
Take any flat, plain piece of land, give it a name— (2020) for fixed media (field recordings and sine tones)
Ultimately, engaging in the practice itself was enough for us (2020) for two or three people (or perhaps alone)
Irrational thoughts should be followed absolutely and logically (1) (2019) for two or more vibraphones
To knowe the spryng of the dawenyng and the ende of the evenyng, the whiche ben called the two crepuscules (2019) for two or more performers
plainsong (2018) for percussion sextet (glockenspiel, two vibraphones, low octave crotales, and two snare drums [with one or two optional radios])
an invincible summer (2015/2023) for string trio
EDUCATION
MA in Music, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut
Thesis: Following Materials: Textilic Minimalism in the Visual Arts and Music since 1960
Primary teachers: Ron Kuivila, Paula Matthusen, Neely Bruce
Informal mentors: Antoine Beuger, Michael Pisaro-Liu, Emmanuelle Waeckerlé
Ryan Seward 