This post was updated Feb. 3 at 6:11 p.m.

For one member of the UCLA community, playing trumpet for Beyoncé is no longer just a dream.

By day, alumnus Ryan Svendsen is an instructor of music supervision at UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and Head of Music at Angel Studios, an independent streaming service company. By night, he is a trumpet player whose performance work has been featured on popular songs such as Lil Nas X’s “INDUSTRY BABY” and Paul Russell’s “Lil Boo Thang,” amassing more than five billion streams for tracks he has played on. Svendsen’s trumpet work is also featured on Beyoncé’s “16 CARRIAGES” – from her eighth studio album “COWBOY CARTER” – and the track is nominated for Best Country Solo Performance at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards. He said being a part of award-nominated projects brings new, unifying feelings each time.

“Every single time it feels different,” Svendsen said. “I always get that spark, and that feeling of, ‘Oh my goodness, that’s so cool,’ and it’s so fun to be a part of this and a part of pop culture, in a way, and it’s just a really refreshing feeling.”

[Related: Grammys 2025: UCLA alumnus nominated for ‘Rose Without The Thorns’ arrangement]

Svendsen said his musical journey with the trumpet began in a fifth grade music class. Initially inspired by the music of Motown and the band Earth, Wind & Fire, he said he was drawn to the instrument because of its simple appearance before quickly learning how difficult it was to play. The trumpet’s physicality demands practice to create the sounds necessary for songs, he added.

By the time he was in high school, Svendsen said his interest in the trumpet grew when he was introduced to the Dave Matthews Band. He said he was fascinated by its diverse use of instrumentation – from saxophone to the violin and flute – and fusion of jazz and rock genres. He added that he featured in one of the band’s music videos during his final year as a student at UCLA. Despite being opened up to the possibilities of playing the instrument, Svendsen said he learned he did not want to be a full-time trumpet player.

“The music industry appealed to me more just because there was more structure and you could work on more projects, and it allowed me to tap into my creativity a little bit more,” Svendsen said. “I had to separate the two. I still played and practiced and had fun with it (the trumpet), but I really had to pivot in order to have a sustainable career.”

Playing trumpet on the side did not block Svendsen from featuring on a Beyoncé track. He said he did not know “16 CARRIAGES” was for Beyoncé when the song was initially sent to him by a producer he knew. It was not until the 2024 Super Bowl – when Beyoncé dropped “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM” and “16 CARRIAGES” following a viral midgame appearance in a Verizon advertisement – that he realized the track he contributed to was among the releases, he said. Svendsen added that it was rewarding and validating for his performance efforts to be recognized upon seeing the track receive a Grammy nomination for Best Country Solo Performance.

“It was a fun surprise, and you just never know what artist your work is going to end up with, or how a song is going to evolve in production or what’s happening behind the scenes and such,” Svendsen said. “I actually made a beat four years ago. I think I said, ‘It would be so great to work with Beyoncé,’ and then it ended up happening.”

Working on instrumentation in the music industry, however, comes with challenges, Dave Hamelin said. Hamelin, one of the producers and writers on “16 CARRIAGES” who sent Svendsen the song’s instrumental, said Svendsen faces pressure to achieve artists’ visions on how they want their music to sound.

[Related: Grammys 2025 Q&A: UCLA lecturer Amy Kuney outlines Chappell Roan collaboration, songwriting identity]

Brendan Lahr, a video operations producer at Meta and Svendsen’s friend, said other challenges Svendsen faces include balancing long, late-night sessions with artists with his day job as a music supervisor and working to get his name and music out in the industry as a freelance instrumentalist. He added that Svendsen has not only been able to tackle such hurdles but also receive recognition for his efforts – including a shoutout at the 2017 Oscars for his supervision of the “La La Land” soundtrack.

“But now seeing his work get on – his performance work, not just his supervision work, but his performance work – get under the names of even bigger and bigger artists like Lil Nas X, now Beyoncé, it’s a testament to his hard work and also how easy it is to work with him,” Lahr said. “So I’m incredibly proud, but I’m not surprised.”

With a musical contribution for Beyoncé freshly tacked on his résumé, Svendsen said he plans to continue working with artists of diverse styles on the music performance side and elevating film scores and soundtracks on the music supervision side. He added that he hopes listeners and aspiring musicians value the importance of live instrumentation.

“I hope that when they hear a song that I added horns to, that they’re hearing how the arrangement of it helps bring to life whatever the message is that the artist is trying to convey,” Svendsen said. “Sometimes that could be at the forefront, something like ‘INDUSTRY BABY,’ or sometimes it could just be a couple notes in the background. … Nothing beats real artistry.”