Amy Ryan is a musician and educator from Killarney, now based in Dublin. One of Ireland’s most accomplished choral and orchestral conductors, Amy has extensive experience working with a wide range of professional and amateur groups, and has established award-winning choral ensembles, including Cuore. Under her leadership, Cuore has gained national and international recognition, with acclaimed performances and competition successes. Her deep understanding of vocal artistry and interpretation ensures that every Cuore performance is both musically and emotionally compelling.
Amy is Artistic Director both of the recently-formed UCD Elavare Ensemble and of the UCD Philharmonic Choir, the latter since 2014. She also conducts the professional choir of St. Stephen’s Church, Mount St., and the Irish language upper voice choir, Cór Duibhlinne. Previously she worked with the Irish Youth Choir and St. Mary’s Cathedral Girls’ Choir, Dublin. She founded Tallaght Hospital Choir, winning Workplace Choir of the Year. Amy is also in demand as an adjudicator, external examiner and guest conductor.
Amy currently lectures at the Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM, Ireland’s oldest conservatory), and previously at Trinity College Dublin (TCD, Ireland’s oldest university). She has taught conducting modules in TCD and in University College Dublin (UCD, Ireland’s largest university), where she mentors an early-career Associate Conductor each year. Amy has also taught conducting on the Sing Ireland and Kodály Ireland international summer schools, and has been an external postgraduate conducting examiner for MTU Cork School of Music. She contributed a chapter to the book, Perspectives on Conducting, published by Routledge in June 2024.
Also at home in orchestral music, Amy has appeared as Guest Artistic Director with UCD Symphony Orchestra on multiple occasions, conducting concertos and symphonies, in addition to choral-orchestral works. As conductor of Jubilate Choir, she presented major symphonic choral works, including the Irish premiere of Graun’s 18th-century Passion oratorio, Der Tod Jesu. She has worked as Score Reader with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. In April 2026, Amy will conduct the world premiere of a new large-scale work by Rhona Clarke for choir, string orchestra and string trio, as part of Music Network’s 40th anniversary celebrations.
She has prepared choruses for Irish National Opera, Blackwater Valley Opera Festival, North Dublin Opera, and Lyric Opera. She regularly deputises as a singer with the choir of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin and has performed throughout Europe and the United States as a cellist, flautist and choral singer.
Amy completed her formal studies at the Kodály Institute of the Liszt Academy of Music Hungary, earning both a Master’s degree in Kodály Music Pedagogy (distinction) and an Advanced Diploma in Choral Conducting (distinction), studying under Péter Erdei and Dr László Nemes. She earned her Bachelor of Music at the Cork School of Music with first-class honours, which included conducting studies under Alan Cutts.
Continuing professional development has included orchestral and choral conducting studies and masterclasses with Robert Houlihan, Alice Farnham, Volker Hempfling, and David Lawrence. In 2017 she served as a Conducting Fellow at Yale’s Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, under Simon Carrington. Amy studied vocal technique with Ghislaine Morgan, Catherine Redding, János Klézli and Áine nicGabhann.
Amy was Chairperson of Kodály Ireland from 2018-2022, directing their annual summer course. She served on the board of Sing Ireland from 2022-2026.
