david munnelly band

Ryan is a pianist, hailing from Pomeroy, Co. Tyrone. His first musical training began on the fiddle at the age of seven, an instrument that would take him on to win the Under-18 All-Ireland Fiddle Championship in Enniscorthy in 2000 under the tutelage of Bríd Harper.

Two years previously in Ballina, at the same event, he met the infamous Kieran and David Munnelly, a relationship that would take him touring to Slovenia, Belgium and America since 2002. Presently concentrating mainly on accompaniment, Ryan has worked on such releases as David Munnelly’s second solo album, By Heck and has recently been recording with such celebrated musicians as Paul Brock and Enda Scahill on the critically acclaimed album Humdinger. He has also recorded on and arranged tracks for the duet album In Safe Hands, released by Aidan O’Donnell and Kieran Munnelly. Ryan has performed both in the traditional medium and in Classical programmes in many notable venues throughout Ireland and the UK such as the Waterfront Hall, Ulster Hall, Jacqueline du Pré Music Builiding, and St. Mary’s Cathedral in Limerick to name but a few.

Ryan is also a noted arranger and composer and has worked with the Ulster Orchestra, also receiving commissions from the Armagh Millenium Orchestra and various new-music ensembles such as the ISIS Ensemble and Oxford Student Chorus. No stranger to radio or television, Ryan has been regularly broadcast on BBC Radio, Ráidió na Gaeltachta and TG4.