Dylan Ward

saxophone

 

Discography

 
 

Techno Chapel (2026)

Techno Chapel is a long form audio-visual piece written for chamber ensemble, live electronics and live visuals by video artist Colin Mosely. To create this audio-visual environment, Techno Chapel utilizes note and volume detection, in order to facilitate interactions between the musicians and the visuals comprised of videos of insects, human bodies, forests and computers. By allowing the audience a space to reflect upon how networks communicate, Techno Chapel aims to ask the question how are humans communicating with digital, vegetal and animal bodies and how are we all connected?

Techno Chapel is a part of a larger trend of interdisciplinary and collaborative work between composers, choreographers, dancers and visual artists who use technology to facilitate new experiences with the natural world that heighten the involvement of other animals, plants and minerals. The musical composition is led by composer and musician Seth Andrew Davis along with local music ensemble Project C4. The interactive video is animated and programmed by video artist Colin Mosely.

Bribery Coast (2025)

Bribery Coast was commissioned for the Artpop Upcycled Fashion Show that took place in September 2025. The track was composed by Ryan Persaud and released under the artist name Sweat Transfer. The full band live version premiered at the 2025 Charlotte International Arts Festival. Sweat Transfer Ryan Persaud, composition, sound design, percussion Chad Thompson, bass Dylan Ward, saxophone

Sprezzatura (2024)

Sprezzatura arose as a collaboration between composer Ryan Persaud and Sydney based design Atelier Sisu for the visual art installation, Evanescent. Evanescent refers to the quality of being fleeting or vanishing quickly, impermanence, and is an immersive, light, and sound temporary environment that aims to capture the concept of ephemerality and transience in a visual form: the bubble. The work was commissioned by Blumenthal Performing Arts and premiered at the 2024 Charlotte International Arts Festival.

Accelerant (2024)

Accelerant arose as a collaboration between composer Ryan Persaud and Baran Dance Company, for their performance Home Grown. The work premiered in June 2024 at the Parr Center at Central Piedmont Community College, and was supported in part by the Infusion Fund, City of Charlotte, and Foundation for the Carolinas.

Tourmaline (2022)

Tourmaline is Dylan Ward’s debut solo electroacoustic album. Tourmaline is a semi-precious gemstone that presents in a multitude of color schemes and is found throughout the world. It is known as “the stone of reconciliation” and is believed to foster positive energy, healing, and connections with the Earth. Tourmaline also serves as a symbolic representation of the philosopher’s stone of the alchemical tradition, believed to be capable of transforming base metals into gold, attaining divine wisdom, perfecting the human body and spirit, and achieving immortality.

Tourmaline explores these ideas through the prism of stylistic pluralism in order to produce a kaleidoscopic array of electroacoustic textures, whereby the saxophone undergoes a sonic transmutation from a solo acoustic object into a hybrid electroacoustic object that is deeply integrated within the electronic sound world. Music by Alexandra Gardner, Viet Cuong, Seth Andrew Davis, Kenneth Michael Florence, and Emma O’Halloran. This project was made possible by generous support from the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Graduate Studies Research Award Grant. Released on Neuma Records.

Joe Tesoro–audio engineer Zach Shemon–producer Colin Patrick Mosely–artwork and design Seth Andrew Davis–laptop and electronics on track 3 Kenneth Michael Florence–guitars, pianos, and electronics on track 4

Hocket (2021)

Hocket (2021)

Hocket is the debut recording of Dionysus, a saxophone duo comprised of Ali Wright and Dylan Ward. This project explores the musical technique of “hocket” and includes works by living American composers informed by the minimalist/post-minimalist tradition. Music by Augusta Read Thomas, Meredith Monk, Kirsten Broberg, Philip Glass, David Biedenbender, and Marc Mellits. Joe Tesoro, audio engineer Colin Mosely, artwork and design

Solace (2021)

Solace is a collaboration between virtuoso alto saxophonist and PRISM Quartet member Zach Shemon and the University of Missouri–Kansas City Wind Symphony, under the direction of Steven D. Davis. Music by Joel Love. Released on XAS Records.

Heroic Dose (2020)

Heroic Dose (2020)

Heroic Dose is an eponymous ten track album is inspired by the work of ethnobotanist and psychonaut Terence McKenna. Heroic Dose encodes the transformational imagery and sonic possibilities drawn from psychedelic experience into musical input for acoustic instruments, which is then further transformed through electronic processes. Released on Mother Brain Records.

Seth Andrew Davis, mixing and mastering Austin Glascoe, artwork and design

A Longing for Interspecies Companionship (2020)

A Longing for Interspecies Companionship (2020)

A Longing for Interspecies Companionship is the debut recording of Heroic Dose, a saxophone and laptop/electronics duo comprised of Dylan Ward and Seth Andrew Davis. This project was presented in collaboration with visual artist Colin Mosley, and is a six part meditation which explores humanity’s relationship with the natural world through a digital lens. Released on Mother Brain Records. Seth Andrew Davis, mixing and mastering Colin Mosely, artwork and design