Her compositions often explore kaleidoscopic colors among instruments and stark, unpredictable contrast in register, texture, dynamics and articulation. An active pianist, Ragan strongly advocates for 20th and 21st century works, performing pieces by composers such as Olivier Messiaen, Tōru Takemitsu, Amy Williams, Tania León and John Liberatore as well as premiering works by composers such as Marlies Hollevoet and Reilly Spitzfaden.

As a passionate teacher, Ragan has taught courses and lessons in composition, orchestration and engraving for Eastman and University of Rochester undergraduate and graduate students. Through a research collaboration with Eastman Performing Arts Medicine and Eastman Community Music School, Ragan has instructed adult piano students with mild cognitive impairment and was an accompanist for ENCORE, a choir dedicated to community members with an Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Her most recent work can be heard via the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum website on the occasion of “Harmony and Dissonance: Orphism in Paris, 1910-1930.”

Ragan’s composition teachers include Daniel Pesca, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, Robert Morris, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon and John Liberatore. Her piano teachers include Elinor Freer and John Blacklow.

Education

• B.A., University of Notre Dame
• M.M., Eastman School of Music
• D.M.A., Eastman School of Music (In Progress)