Since the beginning of Ryan Whyman’s musical journey at age six, it has been obvious that he has a unique musical gift. Since performing his first composition for his second grade classmates, he has yet to stop touching people’s hearts with original music inspired by widely diverse styles and traditions. Whyman’s imaginative and emotionally compelling compositions and orchestrations left one audience member so moved after a performance he told Ryan that listening to them, “makes me want to be a better nurse.”

Whyman’s award-winning musical projects have ranged from The Whyman Project, a chamber jazz ensemble which he himself performed in, to compositions for choir and orchestra to a collaboration with internationally renowned rapper, poet and spoken word artist Watsky. These varied ensembles give a sense of the many influences that make Whyman’s art so special; though it blends many genres, his musical voice is the common thread that weaves his repertoire into a connected whole.

Whyman’s latest album, Fantasies & Memories, draws from his feelings about the modern world to create a powerful meditation on happiness and anticipation as well as nostalgia and longing. Newly married and in his late twenties, Whyman finds the underlying joy and beauty in the sometimes overwhelmingly complex mix of emotions brought about by the rapidly evolving world, both his own and the one we all share.