Symphony No. 2

Stephen Ferre is a composer, arranger, and music engraver, as well as conductor and performer on trombone and euphonium. He attended Baldwin-Wallace College (BME) and Northwestern University (MM, DMA), studying primarily with Loris Chobanian, Alan Stout, and Bill Karlins followed by further studies with Earle Brown, Bernard Rands, Jakob Druckman, and Per Nrgrd at Aspen and Dartington. He taught at Columbia College in Chicago and Eastern Illinois University before moving to Britain in 1989. In the UK, he gave seminars on music publishing (University of York) and music IT (Trinity College of Music, London). He has won several awards including the Illinois Young Composer Award, the Padrone-Kanscheidt Award, the Faricy Award, and was an ASCAP honorable mention. As a music engraver, he founded New Notations Computer Services Ltd in 1999, and typeset works by notable composers such as Per Nrgrd, Poul Ruders, Bent Srensen, Harrison Birtwistle, Michael Nyman, Brian Ferneyhough, and Peter Maxwell Davies, as well has parts of the Carl Nielsen Edition and the Chopin Urtext Edition. He was a trombonist in the Britten-Pears Orchestra from 1999-2002, and bass-trombonist in the Orchestra of the City in London from 2002-2006. Before returning to the US in 2012, he freelanced in York, England, playing primarily in the York Guildhall Orchestra, York Opera, and The Academy of St Olaves. He currently teaches Music Theory and Composition at Syracuse University where he directs the Contemporary Music Ensemble. He has also conducted and performed in ensembles for the Society for New Music. Ferre has concentrated his compositional efforts on works for larger forces. His output includes three Symphonies, Oyre's Garden, Three Pieces for Chamber Orchestra, concertos for euphonium, flute (In a Dream), alto saxophone (From Her Husband's Hand and Remembering the Night Sky, with chamber ensemble), violin (A Point of Amber Light) and piano (Chaos), and chamber music including three string quartets and works for mixed ensembles (Chaos Theory, Time Knot). In 1999 he was a featured composer at the Baldwin-Wallace College Focus Festival. Recently, he has spent much of his time arranging works of Per Nrgrd for Edition Wilhelm Hansen, Copenhagen, notably Helle Nacht (Violin Concerto No. 1), the recording of which has received critical acclaim (BIS-CD-1872). His original compositions are published by Notagraphia.