In May of 2007, Osage operatic baritone Justin Ryan realized a life-long dream when he appeared in the title role of Chelsea Opera Company's production of Mozart's 'Don Giovanni' in New York City. This might have been his second run at this pillar of the operatic repertoire but for an untimely illness which prevented the young Osage from making his Boston debut in the same role four years earlier. In the summer of 2003, Ryan was based in New York City and riding a wave of recent operatic successes. He was preparing the role of a lifetime, Don Giovanni, for a September Boston performance when the ravages of kidney disease which Ryan had battled since youth finally caught up with him, and the Texas-raised opera singer found himself facing a future of life-supporting dialysis, diet restriction, extensive drug therapy, and little or no chance at realizing his ambitions of an international operatic career. Enter Ryan's father, Jim Ryan, a retired music teacher and active band leader in San Antonio, Texas, who is also a member of the Osage Nation. Jim traveled to New York City in August of 2003 to check into St. Luke's Hospital in order to give his son a second chance at life by donating one of his own healthy kidneys. The surgery was a success, with both father and son making rapid recoveries. And though the September 2003 Boston Don Giovanni performances ultimately had to be canceled, Justin Ryan was back onstage soon after. He's gone on in the four years since to star in many other opera productions with several opera companies from New York to Los Angeles and stops in between, premiering new works in New York City, taking debut solo bows at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, recording commercially for radio spots in New York, and even taking time out to fulfill a recording contract along the way at Philip Glass' Looking Glass Studios, also in New York. Justin's work in this period has been recognized by publications from the Financial Times of London to the prestigious Metropolitan Opera monthly, Opera News, who in May characterized the Osage baritone as "commanding and gregarious, owning the stage every time he set foot on it." Now, as Ryan's star seemingly rises faster with each successive engagement, you might think the young baritone wouldn't look back. But the tenacious Osage from New York City - by way of Texas and Oklahoma- prefers to keep perspective by appreciating his roots. "It's impossible to express the amount of gratitude I feel towards my dad and all my loving family who have been so supportive throughout my entire life, really", he says. "My outlook, my optimism, almost all of who I am I owe to them." Ryan goes on to say of his family that whether he is stepping into the light onstage or just moving forward in his personal life, "I oftentimes feel their presence
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