Grace Ryan

• First Place- 2025 Betty Ruppell Memorial Voice Awards
• First Place- 2024 Fox Valley Orchestra Voice Competition
• First Place- 2024 Opera Grand Rapids VanderLaan Prize
• Encouragement Award- 2023 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition Illinois District
• First Place- NATS Illinois Upper Treble Division
• Nerenberg Award- 2023 Musicians Club of Women
• Finalist- 2025 MIOpera International Competition Student Division

“Captivating with [her] vocal power and lush sound” (W. Kromash, Evanston Roundtable), young mezzo soprano Grace Ryan is a national award winning artist, hailing originally from Chicago. She is pursuing her Masters of Music in Voice Performance at the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, studying with acclaimed tenor Stanford Olsen. She most recent sung the role of Dorabella in Così fan tutte (Mozart) , after performing as Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel (Humperdink), both at the University of Michigan. She received her degrees in Vocal Performance and Music Education at DePaul University in Chicago in 2024, where she studied with tenor Scott Ramsay. Within her undergraduate career, she performed extensively with DePaul Opera Theatre, as Nancy in Albert Herring (Britten), Presendia in Dark Sisters (Muhly), and Emma Jones in Street Scene (Weill). In the Chicagoland area, she reveled in the music of Gilbert & Sullivan, performing as Tessa in The Gondoliers with The Savoyaires, and in the chorus of H.M.S. Pinafore with the Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company. Most recently, Grace was the first place recipient of Opera Grand Rapids’ Vanderlaan Prize and the first place recipient of Fox Valley Orchestra Voice Competition. She also was honored to receive an Encouragement Award in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition in the Illinois district in 2023. Grace is thrilled to be a Summer Studio Artist with Florentine Opera this summer in Milwaukee, singing the role of Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsburg in Scalia/Ginsburg (Wang). This fall, she will sing her first Carmen at the University of Michigan.