Hailed for his “solid technique… imaginative programming… tasteful creativity in registering orchestral textures” (AGO Charleston Chapter), Ryan Chan is recognized as a versatile musician who specializes in organ and harpsichord.  His passions for both early and contemporary repertoire, performance practice, historic/antique keyboards, experimentation and teaching define his musical identity.  As a soloist and a chamber/orchestral player, he has performed in venues across the United States, Europe and Hong Kong.  He has been featured in festivals such as Piccolo Spoleto L’Organo, Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute, Rochester Early Music Festival and Skaneateles Festival.

Ryan is the first-prize winner of the 2018 Arthur Poister Organ Scholarship Competition, founded in 1976 and one of the leading competitions of its kind in America.  He is a finalist in the 2022 National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance, the premier competition of the American Guild of Organists.  He is also a recipient of several awards, including the Gerald Barnes Award for Excellence in Pipe Organ (2018, 2021 & 2023), as well as the Dr. James B. Cochran Endowed Organ Prize (2020 & 2022).

At the Eastman School of Music, Ryan is pursuing a doctoral degree in organ with David Higgs.  He served as the VanDelinder Organ Fellow at Christ Church Rochester from 2020-2023, working with music director Stephen Kennedy.  He is the continuo player in Eastman’s Collegium Musicum, a baroque ensemble directed by Paul O’Dette and Christel Thielmann.  He has played in masterclasses held by prominent artists such as Skip Sempé, Michel Bouvard, Raul Prieto Ramirez, Arvid Gast, Edoardo Bellotti, Stephen Tharp, Christophe Mantoux and Peter Westerbrink, among others.  Performance highlights at Eastman include two thoughtfully programmed candlelight concerts on the 1893 Hook & Hastings organ and the 1776 Casparini organ-replica (2008 GOArt/Yokota), along with a dazzling take on JS Bach’s triple harpsichord concerto (BWV 1063) as the soloist/1st harpsichord.