Ryan Lawrence

Growing up in a small town in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, bassist Ryan Lawrence was immersed in a wide range of music, from back-porch bluegrass sessions to symphonies at the local college auditorium. His forward-thinking approach to double bass repertoire and passion for blending musical genres have come to define his voice as a soloist.

Ryan began studying the double bass in 2018, eventually earning a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education from Appalachian State University in 2025. At Appalachian, Ryan became the first double bassist in the university’s history to win their Concerto-Aria Competition, performing as a soloist with the Appalachian Symphony Orchestra in 2024.

Guided by a deep belief in the instrument’s expressive potential, Ryan is dedicated to championing underrepresented composers and exploring the full expressive range of the double bass across genres, from classical and contemporary chamber music to jazz and bluegrass. He has arranged and performed numerous chamber works for string trio, quartet, and quintet, reimagining them to include the double bass and carving out a niche for the instrument within the classical string chamber canon.

Ryan is currently an Orchestral Strings fellow at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where he performs regularly with the UNCSA Symphony and the Winston-Salem Symphony. Beyond the stage, Ryan is passionate about education and community outreach, teaching a private studio of young string players, and working with students through the WSO’s P.L.A.Y. program, an El Sistema inspired initiative that provides opportunities for local elementary school students to learn string instruments.