Ryan Ebright

Ryan Ebright is an Associate Professor of Musicology at Bowling Green State University (BGSU), part of the College of Musical Arts. His research focuses on opera, song, and intersections of music and drama, with emphasis on 20th-century and contemporary opera, minimalism, and 19th-century Lieder. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an M.M. from the Peabody Conservatory. His current book project explores the evolution of American opera since Einstein on the Beach.

Key research interests include sound design in opera (e.g., John Adams' Doctor Atomic), Steve Reich and Beryl Korot's The Cave, and the documentary aesthetic in contemporary music theater. His work has been published in prestigious journals like Cambridge Opera Journal and American Music, and he has contributed to The New York Times and NewMusicBox. He received the 2018 ASCAP Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Award for his article on The Cave.

Ebright has presented at major conferences including the Society for American Music and American Musicological Society. His courses include American Opera after Einstein, Minimalism: Theory, Culture, Praxis, and 20th-Century Music Survey. He actively engages with contemporary opera through reviews and public writing on topics like Anthony Davis’s X and gender representation in operatic works.

His recent and upcoming talks address multiculturalism in opera (OPERA America's initiatives), primary source analysis in Philip Glass’s Satyagraha, and the Met’s revival of X. Reviews of his work praise his innovative frameworks, such as linking sound design to operatic narrative and analyzing The Cave’s political resonance.