On my playlist
Ryan Mullaney, Class of 2007
Ryan鈥檚 Playlist
In 2007...
Ryan Mullaney brought his love of liturgical and brass instrumentals to 撸先生, where he discovered and delighted in jazz and funk. He calls these five albums 鈥渢he seed for growth and exploration into new artists and genres."
Cambridge Singers: Music for the English Church
鈥淚 Don鈥檛 Want to Be A Player No More鈥
This was a sound I wasn't accustomed to, being from in the Maryland mountains鈥攕erene, austere, pure. We sang something from this on my first Sunday at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen.
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David Gray: White Ladder
鈥淐谤补飞濒颈苍驳鈥
This felt like the beat of city life to me, even though David Gray hails from the Manchester suburbs in the U.K.. It was new and was part of my maturing in Baltimore.
John Mayer
鈥淩oom for Squares鈥
It was moody, hip and had a melodramatic message that resonated with me.
Reel Big Fish
鈥淭urn the Radio Off鈥
This has brass instruments鈥攖he types I played growing up鈥攊n a bed of pop鈥損unk music. Yes, please.
Soulive
鈥淒oin' Something鈥
It was the start of my love of jazz, jam and funk, which I started listening to at the behest of my high school band director.
In 2025
The music Mullaney listened to in college isn't very different from what he listens to now. He believes his musical palate has simply expanded in every direction. Curiosity about musical artists and genres has since become a lifelong passion.
Bibio
鈥淎 Mineral Love鈥
He has so many looks: He鈥檚 situationally appropriate for both the lo-fi guru and the 鈥80s pop fan.
Chris Thile and Michael Daves
鈥淪leep With One Eye Open鈥
Bluegrass pickin' and them high and lonesomes [sounds]. If this lot can fill out their sound like this as a duo, who can stop them?
The New Mastersounds
鈥淪hake it鈥
A great example of new funk. Let鈥檚 party!
Roy Hargrove
鈥淎pproaching Standards鈥
I met him when I was in Seattle, and he was normal and had normal problems. But if you gave him a flugelhorn, he could speak a different language.
Teada
鈥淐eol & Cuimhne鈥
Irish traditional music at its absolute best. It was inspiring to my pursuit of the dance and sean-n贸s tradition of Irish music.
Bach Collegium Japan
鈥淏ach 鈥 Motets鈥
For me this was simply brilliant and formative to who I鈥檝e become as a musician.
A Maryland Distinguished Scholar in the Arts in high school, Ryan Mullaney came to Towson University to study voice performance and sing in choirs under the direction of professor Paul Rardin. Very late in his college career, Mullaney took a detour into choral conducting and has since built a career in musical education and creating and leading choral programs and activities.
Now an assistant professor of fine arts and music at DeSales University in Pennsylvania, Mullaney teaches music history, conducts four choirs, teaches voice lessons and works with the university鈥檚 choral and liturgical music.
As if that wasn鈥檛 enough, he is approaching the 15th anniversary of the he founded with former University of North Texas music professor Lyle Nordstrom in Mullaney鈥檚 hometown of Cumberland, Maryland.
Nordstrom and Mullaney hatched the idea over coffee in 2011 to fill a void in the area for high-quality classical and early鈥攖hink mid-1700s to the Renaissance鈥搈usic. They used Mullaney鈥檚 church auspices initially, attracting a following that evolved their plans to include artists in residence, the concert series and a multi-day music festival in 2018.
鈥淐ommunity is so important to me and to us,鈥 Mullaney says. 鈥淎nd it's nice to have that time to get to make this high-level music and foster relationships both with the artists and with the local community.鈥
Taking up the baton
Some people go into college knowing exactly what they want to study. Ryan Mullaney 鈥07 thought he was one of them. Until he discovered choral conducting late in his time at 撸先生.
鈥淚 had this comprehensive base of knowledge from the music program鈥攖he vocal pedagogy classes to the diction classes that I got to take,鈥 Mullaney says. 鈥淚 got interested in too many things, and I needed something to synthesize it. Well, a conductor does all those things.鈥
I remember very specifically my first Sunday [at Mary Our Queen] and the repertory we sang and what it felt like to sing in a room that's over a football field long with eight seconds of reverb鈥eeling the organ rumble the ground and having the light from the windows being obscured by [incense] smoke and thinking, 鈥楾his is what it's about.鈥
Ryan Mullaney
The late professor Karen Kennedy was the first to put him in front of a choir.
鈥淪he gave me a piece of music, and I couldn't find a recording of it,鈥 he says. 鈥淚 went to her office, and I said, 鈥榃hat should I do?鈥 And she goes, 鈥楩igure it out.鈥 That was a real education in learning how to dig, how to prepare for myself, how to find the inherent musicality in the piece when maybe I couldn't play the full thing. It was a formative experience for me to put it together myself.鈥
Mullaney has plenty of experience singing in choirs too, from Sunday School to youth and adult choirs at his church to a spot in the choir for Cathedral Mary Our Queen in Baltimore, which he held while at 撸先生.
鈥淚 remember very specifically my first Sunday there,鈥 he says, 鈥渁nd the repertory that we sang and what it felt like to sing in a room that's over a football field long with eight seconds of reverb鈥eeling the organ rumble the ground under my feet and having the light from the windows being obscured by [incense] smoke and thinking, 鈥楾his is what it's about.鈥欌
Video courtesy of Ryan Mullaney
Since graduation, he has led a bicoastal life, earning post-graduate degrees from Temple and the University of Washington before coming back east to a position at DeSales University in Pennsylvania, teaching music history and conducting four choirs.
But his hometown of Cumberland, Maryland, may hold the biggest piece of his musical heart. It鈥檚 there he and former University of North Texas professor and lutenist Lyle Nordstrom founded Mountainside Baroque in 2011. They built a community of early music performers from major cities across the country.
New and returning performers come to western Maryland for the collective鈥檚 yearly concert series. The 2025鈥26 calendar includes 鈥淕ems from a New Era: Haydn, Mozart and More鈥 (Oct. 12); 鈥淎 Festival of Lessons and Carols for Christmas鈥 (Dec. 21), 鈥淭he Original Renaissance Fair: The Field of the Cloth of Gold鈥 (March 15, 2026) and 鈥淭elemann鈥檚 Don Quixote: A Comic Opera with Puppets鈥 (May 17, 2026).
Mullaney says Mountainside Baroque and its performances are 鈥渁 way for me to stay connected with [my hometown community] and to continue to thank them for all that they have given me in this process.鈥