Ryan C.

Ryan is a conductor, violinist, bass-baritone, and music educator based in New York. He currently serves as the assistant conductor for The Dessoff Choirs. His conducting experiences include semi-professional choir, community choir, children chorus, collegiate choir, and church choir. A passionate educator, Ryan has taught at Azusa Pacific University and various music institutions across Southern California.

Ryan earned his Master of Music in Choral Music from the University of Southern California, where he studied conducting under Dr. Tram Sparks, Dr. Cristian Grases, Grant Gershon, Dr. Troy Quinn, and Dr. Jacob Sustaita. He also holds an Artist Certificate and a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance and Music Education from Azusa Pacific University, where he studied violin under Yuki Mori, Min Jung Park, and Dr. Alex Russell.

Ryan has been actively performing at prestigious venues, music festivals, choral competitions, musical conferences around the world. He has competed in Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod, World Choir Games, 15th International Chamber Choir Competition Marktoberdorf, and Florilège Vocal de Tours. He has sung mass by invitation at Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, and has performed in the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, France, Latvia, China, Hong Kong, and the United States. Ryan has been a featured performer at Xi’an International Choral Festival in China and both national and regional conferences of American Choral Directors Association. Cheung was a winner of Azusa Pacific University Concerto Competition in 2023.

Ryan has been part of recording projects such as award winning and Billboard #1 on Traditional Classical Album Echoes of Grace: Choral Music of Patti Drennan, the “The Immersive Choir” project with Jasper Randall, Richard Burchard: Into the light, and Compassion album of Sangeeta Kaur.

Ryan is a teacher who emphasizes fundamental techniques, sound, and posture. Fundamental techniques include things as simple as how to properly hold the bow and how to place the fingers on the fingerboard. Sound is significantly emphasized, because it is the same as flavors in food. Most people will not be able to understand how complex cooking can be but they usually can tell you what tastes better. Same as music, most listeners will not be able to understand how hard the techniques or the pieces are but they definitely can determine what sounds better than the other. Posture is crucial, because it is the what protects them from injury and naturally improves on sound.