About
About Ryan Whitson
Born on Long Island, New York, Ryan Whitson is currently obtaining his Master’s Degree in Bass Trombone at The Juilliard School, studying with bass trombonist John Rojak. He received his Bachelor’s of Music in Bass Trombone Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2025, where he studied with bass trombonist Randall Hawes. Currently, he is the bass trombonist of the Metropolis Brass Quintet and an active freelancer in New York City.
Ryan is well-versed in classical, historical, chamber, jazz, and contemporary styles of music. He has freelanced and performed with the San Diego Symphony, Youngstown Symphony, Mansfield Symphony, and Chopin Institute of Ohio Orchestra. Ryan received a fellowship for the 2026 season of Aspen Music Festival, and was the bass trombone fellow for Miami Music Festival in 2024 and Lake George Music Festival in 2023. He was an original member of the Lake Effects Trombone Choir from Cleveland, Ohio. He has also played in the Ira B. Liss Big Band Jazz Machine.
Not only does Ryan perform on bass trombone; he can also be found performing on contrabass trombone, tenor trombone, tenor and bass sackbut, euphonium and bass trumpet. In 2026, Ryan toured and performed in Italy with the Juilliard Historical Performance department (also known as J415) on classical F bass trombone. He has also performed with New York Baroque Incorporated on classical tenor trombone. Ryan will return to J415 on their next tour to Basel, Switzerland in 2027.
Ryan can be found on multiple platforms of social media, with over 2k followers on Instagram, 2.9k followers on TikTok, and over 1.3 million views on YouTube. You can also check out his Apple Music/Spotify Artist page.
Instruments Performed On:
Bass Trombone: Greenhoe GC5, Conn 72H
Tenor Trombone: Greenhoe/Conn 88HTG
Contrabass Trombone: Unmarked, Haag Thurbone, Lätzsch Peter Van Klink
Bass in F: Meinl Classical Trombone, Finke
