Acclaimed for his “ethereal saxophone playing” and “distinctive experimental approach” (Vital Weekly), Dylan Ward is a saxophonist/musician/improviser/sound artist specializing in experimental music that explores consciousness across natural, human, digital, and historical planes. Ward has released recordings on the Neuma, Mother Brain, and XAS record labels and has been praised for presenting music that is “as beautiful and intellectually stimulating as it is playful” (PAN M 360). Ward has performed nationally at the Bang on a Can LOUD Weekend Festival, Eighth Blackbird Creative Lab, Mostly Modern Festival, BOOM Fringe Festival, and in venues including Lincoln Center, Constellation Chicago, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, and Mesa Arts Center.

In July 2022, Ward released his debut solo electroacoustic album, Tourmaline, through Neuma Records. Hailed as a “gem of a new release” and celebrated for being a “perfectly produced, engineered, and packaged collection of experimental music” (All About the Arts), the album explores ideas of sonic transmutation and alchemy, featuring music by Alexandra Gardner, Viet Cuong, Seth Andrew Davis, Kenneth Michael Florence, and Emma O’Halloran. From the Cave of Crystals to the cosmogonic Ogdoad, from Paul Klee’s depiction of the Angel of History to the structure of a Michael Jordan documentary, Tourmaline covers a wide range of creative concepts and stylistic pluralism in pursuit of the alchemical magnum opus.

Ward is a founding member of Dionysus, a modern re-invention of the traditional piano trio featuring Dylan Ward and Ali Wright on saxophones and Juliana Balinski on piano. In January 2021, Dionysus released their first recording, Hocket, featuring music by American composers Augusta Read Thomas, Meredith Monk, Kirsten Broberg, Philip Glass, David Biedenbender, and Marc Mellits. Hocket was praised by Steve Carmichael of The Saxophonist for being a “concept recording of the highest order…oozing with musicality”, further stating “Dionysus delightfully excels with such precision that one may think it is only one saxophone performing.”

Ward holds a DMA from the University of Missouri–Kansas City. He holds previous degrees from Michigan State University and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Ward is a JLV–Sound Ambassador and endorses all JLV–Sound products.