Our conversation with Bill Ryan and Karsten Wimbush
Grand Valley State University’s award-winningNew Music Ensemblewill be on tour this summer commemorating theNational Park Service centennial. The group will be premieringnew compositionsinspired by the four parks they’ll be performing at: Bad Lands, Wind Cave, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton National Parks.
Bill Ryan, the ensemble’s director and a professor of composition atGVSU, toldStatesidethat the tour was brought on by his love for the outdoors.
“I was really looking for a project where I could combine my passion for the outdoors and music,” Ryan said.
Karsten Wimbush, a senior studying music education at GVSU, will be joining the tour and hopes to bring back some real-world experience for his future in music.
“To actually be able to see what inspired the very music that we’re performing gives us some more depth to what we’re doing,” Wimbush said, who plays saxophone for the ensemble. “I think [it] will be something none of us will ever forget.”
Ryan and Wimbush joined us on Stateside to talk about their tour celebrating the NPS centennial this summer.
GUEST: Bill Ryan is a professor of composition and the director of the New Music Ensemble at Grand Valley State University.
Karsten Wimbush is a senior at GVSU studying music education. He plays saxophone in the ensemble.
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