Kerri Ryan has served as the Assistant Principal Viola of The Philadelphia Orchestra since the beginning of the 2007-08 season. She came to Philadelphia from the Minnesota Orchestra, where she was Assistant Principal viola for seven seasons. During that time, she appeared twice as soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra. She previously served as Associate Concertmaster of the Charleston Symphony where she was also a featured soloist. Ms. Ryan and her husband, violinist William Polk, are founding members of the award-winning Minneapolis Quartet.
Kerri Ryan has a bachelor’s degree in violin performance from The Curtis Institute of Music. While at Curtis, Ms. Ryan began studying viola with Karen Tuttle. As an high school student, she studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music as a member of its Young Artist Program. As the winner of multiple youth competitions, Ms. Ryan appeared as soloist with orchestras such as The Cleveland Orchestra and The Philadelphia Orchestra. Her violin teachers include Lee Snyder, Rafael Druian, David Cerone, Linda Cerone and Arnold Steinhardt.
Ms. Ryan is passionate about teaching, serving on the faculty of Temple University, as a string quartet coach with Settlement Music School, and a regular instructor at the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra Music Institute. Additionally, Kerri is an avid chamber musician, having collaborated with such artists as Emmanuel Ax, Christoph Eschenbach, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Andre Watts, and Nadja Solerno-Sonnenberg. She is a current member of the Philadelphia Chamber Ensemble.
