Rate My Professor Ryan Olivier

Ryan Olivier is Department Chair and Associate Professor of Music at Indiana University South Bend in the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts, specializing in electronic music and music technology. Born in 1985 in the southern United States, he is a composer and multimedia artist whose works integrate electronics, video, dance, and real-time visualized electronic music with live performers. Olivier earned a BM in Music from Loyola University New Orleans in 2007, an MM in Music Composition from Temple University in 2009, and a DMA in Music Composition from Temple University in 2015. His career includes positions as Visiting Assistant Professor at Indiana University South Bend from 2016 to 2018, progressing to Assistant Professor and later Associate Professor and Department Chair since 2018. Previously, he served as affiliate instructor at Goshen College, adjunct assistant professor and teaching assistant at Temple University, adjunct instructor at St. Joseph’s University, and other roles. He directs the Audio-Visual Collective electronic music ensemble and teaches courses in music technology composition, electronic music composition, music theory, and composition.

Olivier’s compositions have been performed nationwide and internationally by ensembles such as Relâche Ensemble, Cygnus Ensemble, Momenta Quartet, Euclid Quartet, and Ensemble Concept/21, at venues including Society of Composers Inc. National Conferences, SEAMUS National Conference, International Computer Music Conference, New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, and WOCMAT in Taiwan. Key works include Intermedi a – Partial Decisions (2021, performed at xCoAx Austria, CMS/ATMI Rochester, NYCEMF), Musica Speculativa (2018, IU South Bend sold-out performances), Moments from Movements (2023, South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestra), NST: Non-Sustainable Token (2023, Performing Media Festival), and Burst-Reflection (2021, SCI National). Publications feature his dissertation Musica Speculativa: An Exploration of the Multimedia Concert Experience Through Theory and Practice (2015) and “Intermedial Cognition” in eContact! (2016). Awards include Excellence in Teaching with Technology (2022), Trustee Teaching Award (2021), Educator of the Year (2021), National Endowment for the Arts Grants for Arts Projects (2022), ASCAP Plus Awards (2022, 2012–2015), and multiple University Center for Excellence in Teaching grants. He contributes through service as Co-Chair of Faculty Senate Library Affairs Committee, SMART Grant Committee member, UCET Advisory Committee, board member of Ensemble Concept/21, and reviewer for SEAMUS.