Ryan Deignan
2025-2026 Tenor Bass Jazz Choir
Ryan Deignan is a versatile vocal music educator, performer, and director whose interests lie at the intersection of classical and contemporary commercial styles. An award-winning choral conductor with extensive experience in musical theatre and vocal jazz, his “collage” choral programming and command of vocal pedagogy allows his singers to inspire audiences with a breadth of authentic vocal music styles not typically performed by traditional choirs.
Deignan is in his first season as Artistic Director of Choral Arts Rochester (MN) and Honors Choirs of SE Minnesota, two mainstays of the Rochester arts community who have provided inspiring singing experiences and choral music performances for almost forty years. Before Rochester, he was Associate and subsequently Interim Director of Choral Activities at the University of Minnesota Duluth, where he led the flagship University Singers and the award-winning vocal jazz ensemble Lake Effect. He is also the Artistic Director of the Twin Ports Choral Project, winners of the 2024 American Prize for the Performance of American Music and featured choir at the 2024 MN state ACDA convention.
Ryan is the R&R Vocal Jazz Chair for Minnesota for which he has presented on CCM vocal pedagogy, vocal jazz programming, inclusion in the choral classroom, and culturally relevant pedagogy. He and a team of vocal jazz educators are working to grow the genre in Minnesota through workshops and presentations, bringing Matt Falker’s Vocal Jazz Academy to Minnesota for the first time this year.
Deignan was featured clinician at the Kirkwood Vocal Jazz Festival (IA) where UMD Lake Effect performed as headliners. At the secondary level, Deignan led the West Des Moines Valley High School choral program of 350 students, seven traditional choirs, two show choirs, and four jazz choirs. Previously Deignan taught at Cedar Rapids (IA) Washington High School where he led a Slice of Jazz to the Iowa Vocal Jazz Championship.
Deignan is also an active tenor, performing as a featured soloist and vocal artist with ensembles around the country including Borealis Chamber Artists, Dallas Bach Society, Red Shift, Orpheus Chamber Singers, Madison Choral Project, Palouse Choral Society, and University of Iowa Orchestra and Choirs.
He holds a BA in Music Education and Vocal Performance from Luther College, an MA in Music Education from the University of Iowa, and a DMA in Choral Studies with a cognate field in Vocal Pedagogy from the University of North Texas.