Biography
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Ryan Senger is an American classical pianist and composer who ardently promotes the expansion of the pianistic canon. Through programming unheard masterpieces alongside contemporary compositions and standard repertoire favorites, he leaves his audiences with newfound wonder for the far corners of the piano’s expansive literature.
Senger maintains a busy performance schedule as a recitalist and collaborator in both his native Midwest and abroad. Past engagements have seen him in performance at the Prague Piano Festival; the Detroit Symphony’s Cube; Utrechts Conservatorium; on the Steinway Piano Series of Tampa, Florida; and as a chamber music collaborator with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. Senger has also been heard live on Chicago WFMT’s Myra Hess concert series. Senger is a frequent collaborator in contemporary music with his trio Ensemble du Jour, as well as with the Chicago Civic Orchestra Fellows.
As a composer, Senger has premiered his own works at the Concours International d’Orléans, the Prague Piano Festival, and the Walled City Music International Summer Festival. He is a frequent arranger of music for pedagogical purposes, and has dozens of arrangements of pieces across classical, pop, jazz, rock, cinema, and video game genres.
In 2022, Senger won the U.S. Regional OSAKA International Music Competition for piano. Additional awards and honors have included receiving the Steinway Young Artist Special Prize given at the 2019 Brancaleoni International Music Festival, receiving first prizes at the 2021 University of South Florida Piano Competition and the 2016 Kleinman Piano Competition.
Senger holds a Bachelor’s and Master's Degree from DePaul University, where he studied with George Vatchnadze, and a Master’s Degree from the University of South Florida, where he studied with Svetozar Ivanov. Highly active as an educator, Senger serves on the faculty of the Musical Offering, in Evanston, as well as on the staff of the Chicago Waldorf School. Past positions have included serving on the keyboard faculty of the State College of Florida, Sarasota-Manatee, and as an instructor at the University of South Florida.
Currently based in Chicago, Illinois, Senger is a hobbyist woodworker and avid reader. He lives with his wife Alyssa, and cats Louis and Willa.