Ryan Morris believes in a holistic approach to bassoon performance and pedagogy that prepares students to be flexible and versatile as they pursue professional opportunities. He currently performs and teaches around the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and makes reeds for musicians across the United States.

As a passionate advocate for the performance and elevation of wind chamber music, Ryan has commissioned and premiered over 20 works over the past decade, including a featured performance of two new electroacoustic works for bassoon duo at the 2021 International Double Reed Society Conference. He can be heard on Illuminations, the self-released debut album of Filamental Trio, featuring new works for clarinet, bassoon, and piano by composers Forrest Pierce, Kim Rivera, Brad Baumgardner, Andrew Cole, Lee Hartman, and Samuel Parrilla. His ensemble Fenglírë Reed Trio was a finalist for The American Prize 2020 Professional Chamber Music division. His dissertation “Just See” analyzes the bassoon chamber music of Reena Esmail through the duality of Hindustani and Western music theory systems to help provide a more authentic performance experience.

Ryan’s career as a performer has taken him from New York City to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and numerous places in between. He spent two summers as a quintet/sextet fellow at the Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival, where he performed and premiered works with Imani Winds and the Force Five wind quintet of the Band of the Air Force Reserve. He has also performed with the Austin Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Philharmonia of Greater Kansas City, and with the national tours of Lindsey Sterling, Celtic Thunder, and Evanescence.

In the seven years that Ryan spent in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, he maintained a studio of 50 bassoon students, who were consistently praised for their technique and musicianship. In addition to developing a unique curriculum that included aural skills, reed-making, and contrabassoon, Ryan hosted and self-funded a Dallas Double Reed Day for 45 students in the area.

Ryan is currently ABD for his DMA in Bassoon Performance at the University of Kansas, where he was the Graduate Teaching Assistant for Dr. Eric Stomberg and the instructor of record for bassoon lessons, bassoon reed-making and music education methods. He earned his MM from the University of Missouri - Kansas City and his BM from Texas State University. Influential teachers include Dr. Eric Stomberg, Marita Abner, Renee Dee, Daris Hale, Scott Phillips, and Carole Lyons.