Ryan Person serves as director of choral activities and associate professor of music at Morningside University in Sioux City, Iowa. At Morningside, his choirs have been recognized and honored for their performance since his arrival in 2018. He conducts the forty-member Morningside Choir, which has been celebrated for its exceptional choral artistry and eclectic programming. The choir has mostly recently performed at the ACDA National Conference, ACDA Midwestern Region Conference, and South Dakota Music Educators Conference. In November 2023, the ensemble was also honored as the winner of The American Prize in Choral Performance (College/University Division), a comprehensive national performing arts competition. Under Person’s direction, The Morningside Choir has traveled to continental and international locations, including Germany, Austria, and the Czechia in 2022. The ensemble will tour South Africa in 2024. In addition to The Morningside Choir, Person conducts the university’s additional mixed chorus, Morningside Singers, and teaches choral conducting and methods courses.

An experienced conductor and educator, Person has directed numerous honor choirs and festival choruses throughout the United States, most recently conducting the South Dakota All-State Chorus. He has also conducted in Carnegie Hall in New York City with Manhattan Concert Productions. In addition to podium leadership, he has presented interest sessions at national and regional conferences and been awarded the Morningside University Sharon Walker Faculty Excellence Award and Iowa Choral Directors Association Post-Secondary Choral Educator Award.

Studying with many of the profession’s finest conductors, Person earned a doctor of musical arts degree in choral conducting from Texas Tech University, master of music degree in choral conducting from Michigan State University, and bachelor of arts degree from Luther College.