Ryan Youens is a composer, arranger, orchestrator and copyist with extensive experience collaborating with ensembles, artists, composers, publishers and producers on projects including live concerts and events, film and television scores, studio recordings, and theatre productions. His charts have been performed and recorded across Oceania, Europe, North and South America, Asia, and the Middle East. He trained at New Zealand School of Music Te Kōkī, University of Otago and University of Auckland, and is based in Auckland, New Zealand.
Recent standout projects include Alicia Keys performing Ryan’s arrangement of Finally - a track from her recent collaboration with Swedish House Mafia - at the opening of Sindalah Island in Neom, arranging the charts for Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus at the Sydney Opera House with The Metropolitan Orchestra, collaborating with Felix Buxton (Basement Jaxx) on the development of a new soon-to-be-announced large-scale work, writing the choral and string arrangements for Arli Liberman’s theme for the 37th America’s Cup, preparing the charts for Neil Finn and the Sydney Symphony to perform at the Sydney Opera House, for Tane Upjohn-Beatson’s sound design for Beijing’s new Museum of Traditional Medicine, for Victoria Kelly’s soundtrack to the 2011 Rugby World Cup opening ceremony, for Alien Weaponry and Ria Hall collaborations with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Tami Neilson’s collaboration with the Auckland Philharmonia, for Van Dyke Parks’s arrangement of Just Sleep by Lawrence Arabia, and Rhian Sheehan’s score for the Mission Ferrari roller coaster at Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi.
Film credits include preparing the orchestral arrangements for Neil Finn’s Song of the Lonely Mountain from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and Billy Boyd’s The Last Goodbye from The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies, both recorded at London’s Abbey Road Studio, as well as orchestration or copying work on the scores for Belief: The Possession of Janet Moses by Rhian Sheehan, Mahana by Mahuia Bridgman-Cooper, Ka Whawhai Tonu by Tiki Taane and Arli Liberman, and Pike River by Karl Sölve Steven.
A key figure in the creation of Synthony - a collision of the biggest electronic dance anthems with a live orchestra, DJ’s, vocalists, and immersive visuals - Ryan has arranged more than 160 charts for the production and is the show director. Synthony now tours globally, performing to sold-out audiences at iconic venues.
Ryan has also made significant contributions to music engraving, working extensively with leading New Zealand composers as well as with publishers like G. Schirmer and Massey University Press. His expertise extends to re-setting historic works, such as August Enna’s Kleopatra for the Danish National Opera.
From 2018-2020, Ryan served as the Kaitito Pāpori Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra Communities Composer - which involved several new commissions, one inspired by Burt Munro (aka The World’s Fastest Indian) and another to celebrate the 20 year anniversary of Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf Marine Park. Ryan continues to have a close relationship with the APO and their education and outreach initiatives.
An accomplished conductor, equally at home working in sessions with New Zealand’s leading musicians, or in providing workshops and mentoring for community ensembles.
