Jessica Ryder was born and grew up in rural New Hampshire. Named Beverly Morgan from birth, she attended Mt. Holyoke College where, thanks to the mentorship of Tamara Brooks, she recognized her calling as a musician. She then completed Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Voice Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music, where Rudolf Kolisch and Gunther Schuller were among her influences. She pursued further vocal training with Phyllis Curtin. Jessica (as Beverly Morgan) made her professional debut in 1976 as soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa and went on to sing leading soprano roles at the Teatro alla Scala, the Vienna State Opera, Seattle and Santa Fe Operas, also appearing in concert with the Marlboro Music Festival and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, et al. She has worked with Leonard Bernstein and Peter Brook, premiered many new works, and recorded for DGG and RCA, et al.  In the early 90s, Jessica began to delve more deeply into the essential nature of voice and expression, and to explore other, non-classical, approaches to sound. This growing fascination led her to leave the classical stage, and her home in New York, in 1993. Living for short periods in Colorado, Maui, and northern California, she trained and practiced in massage and other healing modalities, deepening her understanding of the human instrument and evolving unique ways of working with sound and expression. Key support for this transition came from the work of Emilie Conrad www.continuummovement.com and Paul Lowe www.paullowe.org, and many other consciousness pioneers. Gradually she emerged from the metamorphosis with a new name and new, highly individual, ways of creating and sharing music. Living in Berlin from 1998 to 2001, she formed ‘The Jessica Ryder Band,’ performed regularly at Berlin jazz venues, and maintained an independent teaching curriculum of lessons and workshops. In 2004, after returning to the States, she made a solo CD of vocal improvisations called A Voice in the Night: Meditations in Music.  Jessica currently performs the Conscious Cabaret, accompanying herself at the piano in an intimate program of songs and improvisations. She is developing material for a CD of original music. She teaches at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and makes her home in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  "She performs with the kind of strength that makes it impossible not to pay attention." Will Crutchfield, The New York Times Click here to download pdf of Jessica Ryder's Teaching CV http://www.continuummovement.comhttp://www.paullowe.orgBiography_files/cv_Website.pdfshapeimage_1_link_0shapeimage_1_link_1shapeimage_1_link_2
 
© Jessica Ryder