William Ryan Fritch

Composer, Multi-Instrumentalist, Producer

William Ryan Fritch is a composer, multi instrumentalist and producer who has created music for numerous award-winning films, television shows, videos, art installations, dance and theatre performances and national advertisement campaigns. In addition to his multi-media work, he maintains a prolific recording career releasing records under his own name and his alias Vieo Abiungo. His vibrant, organic sound is a product of his unique skills as an instrumentalist and recordist that allow him to utilize his vast and varied arsenal of acoustic instrumentation to fully realize his compositions as a solo endeavor.    

William Ryan Fritch is an award-winning composer and multi-instrumentalist living in Petaluma, California. Since 2008, he has composed the music for over 100 documentary and narrative films: including the 2021 Emmy winning documentary “The Rescue List,” the 2020 multiple Emmy nominated “Into the Canyon” for Disney +, the 2016 Academy Award, Peabody and Emmy nominated "4.1 Miles”, the 2022 multiple Emmy winning "Outlaw Ocean," the 2020 Peabody winning documentary “A Different Kind of Force",  and the 2021 Independent Spirit Nominated narrative film “Bull.” 

His compositions and scores have been lauded as “ Achingly Beautiful and evocative” (The Hollywood Reporter ) and “Piquant, lively and Imaginative” (Variety) and have made multiple music journalist’s year end lists for best original soundtracks. In 2019, A Closer Listen said, “Fritch is easily the best film composer who hasn’t yet landed a major motion picture; it’s only a matter of time.”

As a recording artist and songwriter he has released more than 30 albums of his unique amalgam of folk, contemporary classical, and experimental music both under his own name and under the moniker Vieo Abiungo through the respected independent record label Lost Tribe Sound.  As Pop Matters said of one of his recent albums, “ it’s beauty will leave you fustigated, with raw emotion resonating from every sonic vibration in his expansive timbral arsenal….”

In addition to his recordings and commissioned film work, he has created music for dance companies ( including MacArthur Grant winning Exit12), dozens of national ad campaigns and branded content films/videos, (including multiple Webby, D& AD, Music and Sound Award, Vimeo and Tribeca X award winning works for Square, Google and Dropbox.)  and numerous student films ( Six of which that’ve gone on to win the Student Academy Award for documentary.