Ryan Van Liere began his music studies at the age of 12 while living near Charlotte, North Carolina. He originally played the clarinet and performed with the Gaston County Concert Band as their bass clarinetist. While there, another member of the clarinet section brought in a bassoon to play. Ryan quickly became fascinated with it and right then and there, he decided he wanted to play the bassoon. The bassoon that his junior high school owned was in unplayable condition so in the summer before his 9th grade year, he came to Utah to visit his father who gave him a job demolishing old office space in the Judge Building in downtown Salt Lake and he saved up enough money to buy his very own bassoon.
He returned to North Carolina, bought his first bassoon, and began taking lessons from Lori Tiberio of the Charlotte Symphony. By the time he was a sophomore in high school, he was principal bassoon of the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestra and selected to play 2nd bassoon in the North Carolina All-State Honors Band.
He moved to Utah when he was a junior in High School and his last two years of high school were spent taking lessons from Roger Hicks and playing in the Granite Youth Symphony, the American West Symphony, and last, but not least, second bassoon in the Salt Lake Symphony. He has appeared as a guest soloist with the Utah Symphony in their annual Salute to Youth concert conducted by Joseph Silverstein. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music and a Master of Music degree from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, Scotland. He joined the Salt Lake Symphony as principal bassoon at the beginning of the 2010-11 season. In addition to the Salt Lake Symphony, he can also be found playing for Salt Lake’s newest professional wind ensemble, the Utah Wind Symphony. He also frequently performs in the orchestra for the Salt Lake Choral Artists, and has performed with the Utah Symphony as a substitute member.
He lives in Midvale with his wife (Leza) and their two Labradors (Cato and Clove). His other passion in life is aviation. He holds a Private Pilot License and when not playing his bassoon or making reeds, he can be found flying around the Intermountain region or in his garage building his Vans RV-7A kit plane.