John E. Ferritto

John E. Ferritto (1937-2010) was an American composer, conductor, and music professor.

He graduated with honors in piano and violin performance from The Cleveland Institute of Music, and also holds a M.M. in composition from Yale University, where he studied piano with Ward Davenny, conducting with Gustav Meier, and composition with Mel Powell. He also studied at the American Academy in Rome and at Tanglewood, with Gunther Schuller, and Erich Leinsdorf.

He made his conducting debut with the U.S. Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra on tour in Germany, France, and Italy. He was associate conductor of the New Haven Symphony, Conductor of the Chamber Orchestra of the North Shore in Chicago, and director/conductor of the American Federation of Musicians Congress of Strings in Cincinnati.

As a guest conductor, he has appeared with the Radio Television Orchestra of Bucharest, the State Orchestra of Greece, the Toledo Symphony, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra (Ohio), the Charleston S.C. Symphony, the Michigan Chamber Orchestra, Eastern Music Festival, the New Haven Opera, the New Haven Ballet, and the American Ballet Theatre. He has conducted the Orchestras of both the Peabody Conservatory and The Cleveland Institute of Music, and was the former director of the Kent/Blossom Summer Music program.

Ferritto was Conductor Laureate of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra in Springfield, Ohio, after serving as Music Director and Conductor, a post he held since 1971.

He served on the theory and composition faculties at the University of Chicago, the University of Texas at Austin, and Kent State University.

John Ferritto passed away January 7, 2010. He is survived by his wife, the violist Marcia Ferritto.