Rhyuhn Green, 18, pianist and composer: Creating a Melting Pot in Classical Music
Rhyuhn Green. Photo by Don Elul
Rhyuhn Green is a young composer and pianist with a vision: classical music should become a melting pot of different cultures, drawing in people by offering them a fusion of musical genres that allows everyone to connect and unite. His own biography shows that fusing different musical worlds is not just possible but enriching. He made his solo debut at Carnegie Hall at age 12 but also opened concerts for acclaimed rock artists as a youngster. The Juilliard student is a recipient of a prestigious Kovner fellowship at Juilliard and has just released his debut album, ph3onix3s. TWoA talked to the Philadelphia native about his musical journey, leadership in the classical arts, and, of course, his album.
What is your first musical memory?
My first musical memory is my aunt sitting down at the piano with me when I was very, very young. I was around age two. From what I can recollect, and from what my aunt tells me, we would sit down at the piano together, and I would sing, or she would teach me little scales. It became my musical foundation. Just the little things at the beginning helped me get to where I am now.
When you were a kid, you opened concerts in the rock style for Korn, Rob Zombie, Five Finger Death and others. This sounds unusual for a young classical pianist and composer.
When I was around age nine, I was in a band called “The Zombie Kids.” We would perform very big shows for a lot of acclaimed artists. We opened the 2015 Rock Allegiance music festival, which was a very cool experience. We got to meet bands such as Five Finger Death Punch, Corn and a lot of heavy metal artists. It was a transformative experience, because you get different techniques when playing rock music. You get to really implement them into your piano playing. And I found that playing keyboards on all the different pieces and songs that we were playing, it tails into the music that I write. It was beneficial to work with all those different rock artists. One time, I even met Ozzy Osbourne, the lead singer of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, it was just a brilliant experience.
How did a nine-year-old end up at the keyboard at these heavy metal concerts?
From around age four, I started taking piano lessons at a small piano shop down the street from where I lived at the time and got a basic musical foundation. We just learned simple songs. At around age nine, I joined a rock school in Delaware County. We learned the foundations of being in a band, working together. Around that same time, I started studying privately with Michelle Cann at the Curtis Institute of Music, which was another huge part and foundation of my musical training.
But to return to the rock style: we worked with different pieces, we did a lot of Guns N’Roses, which is another prominent rock band. We did a lot of covers, but we also experimented with writing our own music and our own songs, which was great. We opened for rock bands in Philadelphia. There's this huge stadium-like, concert hall, it was then called the electric factory, now it's called Franklin Music Hall. I opened for Clutch, which was another band at the time. It was transformatory: I got to see a lot of really great rock idols on stage. Playing before them, opening their concert was just amazing.
How did you get into composing?
When I started playing the piano, I was always playing around or improvising. Through improvising on the piano, I started to “write” things, but not actually writing them down on paper. Around age twelve, thirteen, I started to write them down on paper. My teacher at the time, Michelle Cann at Curtis, set me up with Dr. David Ludwig, who was then at Curtis and who is now the dean and director at the Juilliard School. I’m now studying with him at Juilliard. We would go through different musical ideas. He gave me a musical foundation, how to begin writing music. Michelle Cann asked me to apply for the Marian Anderson Young Artist Program. I was super excited when I got in. I began studying with William Dougherty, who is a fellow at Harvard. He really went in-depth with me. He gave me Elaine Gould’s Behind Bars: The Definitive Guide to Music Notation, which is super helpful for composers. It's our notation bible. We refer to it all the time. Let’s say, we have to notate a certain passage, and we're not quite sure how other composers have done it in the past, because it's obscure. We refer to the book, and we figure out: “Okay, that's what somebody else did. How do I take that and make it my own?” It’s super helpful and became the backbone in my musical composition training.
You said in a different interview that you want to create a melting pot in classical music and bring together different cultures. Could you expand on this?
You have different cultures that all have different types of music. If you bring those different styles together, and you weave them together, it gets more people interested. It brings more people in, and more people learn about other cultures and see other people; it becomes a bonding ground for a lot of different people. Music is something that brings people together, it can foster unity. You've seen it a lot throughout society. Art can create a lot of change and inspire a lot of people. I think that creating a cultural melting pot in classical music is necessary, it is vital to get everyone interested and involved in classical music, to get to know all the great things that we do as composers and musicians.
What does your creative process look like?
A lot of times it starts at the piano, just sitting down and maybe playing something that I've heard earlier that day, or something that I'm thinking of. I'll sit down and I'll play around for a little bit with the different melodies, I toy around with different harmonies, I find what sort of sound sounds right, record it, and then listen and hear how it can be different.
My process has changed over the years. I've become less attached to the piano. Sometimes, composers use the piano as a crutch, and I'm a pianist by nature, so that's what I lean to most when I'm having a writer's block. But a lot of times, I like to just sit down and either begin on paper or begin on the computer. I find that it really gets my ideas flowing.
You have just announced the release of your debut album, ph3oniXes - the spelling is intentional. What is the idea behind the title?
The title alludes to a rising, or a sense of restoration and starting new. I think that's important when talking about music and artistry. It should always be something fresh, something exciting. The image of a phoenix is something that is grand and beautiful, it's something that continues and has no end. I want my music to have that sort of phoenix effect. I want it to die and be born again, in a sense. Also, some of the musical ideas in a lot of the pieces have different time signatures, there are a lot of odd meters. I feel the title reflects that.
A long time ago, I started a piece of mine, “Symbiosis.” I was about nine years old, and the piece has grown with me. I find that some elements of the piece have gone through that process. They've grown and they've died, and they've been born again. I find that “Symbiosis” fits nicely into the album.
A lot of the music on the album has been workshopped a lot. I was sitting in the studio, sometimes for hours, thinking about what I want to change, how I want it to be different, how I can really push myself to get to that next level in my creative process. I truly believe that this album has been a transformative experience, it is my evolution as I've grown over the years.
Your hometown Philadelphia has great programs for music education. What can other cities learn from Philadelphia in terms of making classical music education more accessible?
Great question. I think that Philadelphia has are very rich music scene in the sense that we try to incorporate everyone. For example, there's the Philadelphia School District which aims to involve students in music making, becoming artists and choosing what you want to do. A lot of the programs I've worked with have multiple connections and multiple facets in partnership with the other programs. They all work together to bring Philadelphia up and make it what it is. That’s it: it's the interconnection of the programs and the genuine desire for students to achieve artistic and academic excellence.
There has been a lot of talk about increasing diversity in classical music, both in terms of race and gender. What has been achieved, and what areas still need a lot of work?
Great question. I think awareness has really increased. A lot more opportunities have opened orchestrally for black musicians. It can still be approved upon, but for all sort of racial minorities and gender expressions, a lot of spots have opened.
An aspect which can be improved on is the academic side of things, education. If you educate students from a younger age and really train them well and give them a strong foundation in classical music, they can go anywhere in terms of technique. They will have the ability to get to the best places, to get to that extremely high level. That is the next step: educating the youth, getting them more involved so that they grow into aspiring and courageous musician.
How can we achieve that?
I think the private school experience should be sent into public schools. The idea of the student being the focus of their education should be given the utmost priority. Catering to the individual student at both the public and private levels, will make them a better musician and a better person if they feel that they have the attention that they need.
You are a recipient of a Kovner Fellowship at Juilliard, a comprehensive scholarship that aims to develop future leaders in the arts. What does leadership in classical music in the 21st century mean to you?
“Pioneering “is the word that comes to mind. Pioneering projects, in any style, in any in any way. A lot of the projects that musicians at Juilliard work on are at that next level. They're really working hard to get to that next level and improving their technique. I think that once you're at that level of technical ability, you can do anything musically. You can apply that to all the people around you. That's when you start teaching, and when you start giving that information, giving them a path to success. Sharing the success is what leadership truly is.
What do you see as the main challenge for the classical music industry?
Some artists are more receptive to other styles and other facets of music than others. I think that there's more divide than there is unity. It's time to unite and truly, truly accept all types of music for what they are, to bring them in and not push them out more. This challenge is also an opportunity: how many people can you bring in? How many people can you get involved?
What are your hopes for 2025?
I want to keep working with many different artists of all styles. I want to branch out and work with other artists, such as the rapper Kendrick Lamar, but I also want to continue working with exceptional classical musicians. I really want to engage people. I’m so honored to be on National Public Radio’s “Tiny Desk.” That's a legendary platform that invites all types of musicians to perform live from a small office space at NPR from behind a desk. Yo-Yo Ma has been on it, violinist Randall Goosby has been on it, as well as jazz icons such as Kamasi Washington, Orange Julius; Erykah Badu, Sabrina Carpenter and Billie Eilish have been on it. I hope this will bring people to the album. I hope that people enjoy it and listen to it and make their own interpretations of it. I just hope it inspires people.