Bio
RYAN RUMERY is a musician, composer, and music producer. His music is featured in the films Cooked: Survival by Zipcode (DOC NYC 2019), Afghan Cycles (Hot Docs 2018), Personal Statement (SXSW EDU 2018), Awake: A Dream from Standing Rock (Tribeca Film Festival 2017), How to Let Go of the World (Sundance 2016), City of Gold (Sundance and SXSW 2015, IFC/Sundance), And, Apart (Golden Door International Film Festival 2016, Local Sightings Film Festival 2016), Those People (NY Indie Theater Film Festival), The Hobby (currently in post-production), Gatewood, SynchroNYCity, and FlowerMan. Rumery was a composer in the 2017 Sundance Institute Music and Sound Design Lab for Documentary Film at Skywalker Ranch. His composition "End of Day" was used in CNN's Death Row Stories episode "Murder in Paris." Web series work includes Emergency Contacts and The Purple House. He provided the sound design for The Casualty Process’ music video “Violet Machine.” The podcast “How I Got Here” features his theme music.
He performs drums, piano, and keyboards live with Palissimo Inc’s triology of modern dances The Painted Bird (KioSK Festival, Slovakia, Baryshnikov Arts Center, La MaMa, PS122, Legion Arts, Wexner Center for the Arts). As a drummer, he performs with the Obie Award-winning The Secret City, as well as with Jeremy Bass, Craig Greenberg, the Whale Tales, Big Weather, and other musicians.
Rumery was Sound Consultant for Sufjan Stevens’ Round Up at the Barbican and Edinburgh International Festival. He also consulted on the Nonesuch at 50 Festival at BAM for George Crumb’s “Ancient Voices of Children” featuring Dawn Upshaw and Gilbert Kalish, and a program of music by Steve Reich and John Adams, featuring Alarm Will Sound.
As an album producer and musician, Rumery recently released his collaboration with Jason Noble (Per Mission, Shipping News, Rachel’s) and Christian Frederickson (Rachel’s) entitled Amidst. Most recently, he recorded Desert Dwelling Mama with Adrian, which debuted in the #14 slot on iTunes’ country chart. He has recorded and performed with Nick Luca (Calexico, Iron & Wine), Jacob Valenzuela (Calexico), Bo Koster (My Morning Jacket), John Rauhouse (Neko Case), Tom Hagerman(DeVotchKa), Andrew Carlson (St. Vincent), Dana Wachs (Vorhees), William Flynn (SleepersWork), and Gabriel Espinosa / Ashanti. Rumery frequently co-produces and records with Nick Luca at Elliott Smith’s former studio, New Monkey Studio in Van Nuys, CA. Working with Craig Schumacher and Chris Schultz at WaveLab in Tucson, Rumery has produced three albums for Jeremy Bass: The Greatest Fire, Winter Bare and New York in Spring; the title track from the latter album won the John Lennon Songwriting Prize. Rumery and Luca recently collaborated on Arlo Hannigan’s most recent record. Additional albums include the self-titled The Joy of Harm, The Whale Tales’ Methods, and his own Riverside, Outside Mullinger, 4000 Miles, Ivanov, and FlowerMan. Current and upcoming projects include albums with Big Weather, Rich Russell & The Lonesome Heroes, The Walker Project, and a solo album inspired by his frequent air travel.
Rumery is also an accomplished composer for theater, with over two hundred theatrical scores and designs for Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Regional Theaters including: Brooklyn Academy of Music, Classic Stage Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, MCC, Playwrights Horizons, Lincoln Center Theater, Public Theater, Irish Repertory Theatre, Labyrinth Theater Company, Playwrights Realm, Atlantic Theater Company, Orchard Project, TheaterWorks, Center Theatre Group, Dallas Theater Center, Long Wharf Theatre, Keen Company, Center Stage, Woolly Mammoth, Wilma Theater, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Two River Theater, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Ford’s Theatre, Alley Theatre, Hartford Stage, The Shakespeare Theatre, Studio Theatre, Kansas City Rep, La Jolla, Syracuse Stage, Dorset Theatre Festival, City Theatre Company, Pittsburgh Public Theater, and Philadelphia Theatre Company.