Frank Ferko

Last updated

Frank Ferko (born June 18, 1950) is an American composer.

Contents

Born in Barberton, Ohio, Ferko played piano from childhood, and worked as an organist and conductor in his teens. His first compositions were primarily liturgical in nature, with Lutheran composer Richard Wienhorst being an early influence. He attended Valparaiso University as an undergraduate, where he studied composition and counterpoint under Wienhorst and organ under Philip Gehring. Ferko took particular interest in early music and the compositional and theoretical output of Olivier Messiaen.

He received a bachelor's from Valparaiso in 1972 in piano and organ performance, and then took his master's at Syracuse University in music theory. There he studied theory under Howard Boatright and organ under Will Headlee, and wrote his thesis on one of the extended piano works of Messiaen. Following this, Ferko served as Director of Music at various midwestern churches before entering Northwestern University. At Northwestern he first pursued a Ph.D. in music theory but shifted his attention to music composition which he studied under Alan Stout. During his time at Northwestern he worked as a teaching assistant in the School of Music and also continued his work as a church musician. In 1982 he began working as a music librarian and continues to work as both a librarian and an archivist. He currently works at the music library at the University of California, Berkeley.

As a composer, Ferko began receiving critical acclaim and commissions in the 1980s, including the Holtkamp Award from the American Guild of Organists in 1990 for the song cycle A Practical Program for Monks. In 1990-91 he composed a ten-movement cycle for organ based upon the visions of Hildegard von Bingen. It would be the first of several large-scale projects inspired by Hildegard, followed by The Hildegard Motets and Hildegard Triptych. Ferko premiered Stabat Mater in 1999, commissioned by His Majestie's Clerkes. He has also worked as composer-in-residence with the Dale Warland Singers. The European premiere of his choral works took place in April 2003 with a performance of his Stabat Mater by the VU-Kamerkoor, Amsterdam, on the occasion of which Ferko joined in rehearsals and held a public introduction to the piece. In 2004 the VU-Kamerkoor commissioned "La remontée des cendres," an extended work for chorus, soloists and an ensemble of eight instruments, based on texts by Tahar Ben Jelloun. The work received its premiere in The Netherlands, performed by the VU-Kamerkoor, conducted by Boudewijn Jansen in May 2005.

The music of Frank Ferko has been heard through public performance or radio broadcast in 30 countries on six continents.

Recordings

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olivier Messiaen</span> French composer (1908–1992)

Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex. Harmonically and melodically, he employed a system he called modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from the systems of material his early compositions and improvisations generated. He wrote music for chamber ensembles and orchestra, voice, solo organ, and piano, and experimented with the use of novel electronic instruments developed in Europe during his lifetime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josef Rheinberger</span> German organist and composer

Josef Gabriel Rheinberger was an organist and composer from Liechtenstein, residing in Bavaria for most of his life. As court conductor in Munich, he was responsible for the music in the royal chapel. He is known for sacred music, works for organ and vocal works, such as masses, a Christmas cantata and the motet Abendlied; he also composed two operas and three singspiele, incidental music, secular choral music, two symphonies and other instrumental works, chamber music, and works for organ.

Petr Eben was a Czech composer of modern and contemporary classical music, and an organist and choirmaster.

Alfred Ernest Whitehead was an English-born Canadian composer, organist, choirmaster, music educator, painter, whose works are held in a number of important private collections, and an internationally recognized authority in the field of philately. His The Squared-Circle Cancellations of Canada received its third edition shortly after his death.

William Hugh Albright was an American composer, pianist and organist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piet Kee</span> Dutch musician (1927–2018)

Pieter William Kee was a Dutch organist and composer.

Jan Vriend is a Dutch classical music composer, conductor, organist and pianist. He lives in Gloucestershire, England, and has lived there since 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karl Piutti</span> German composer and organist

Karl Piutti was a German composer and organist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paweł Łukaszewski</span> Polish composer

Paweł Łukaszewski is a Polish composer of choral music. He has won seven prestigious Fryderyk Awards. According to David Wordsworth, Łukaszewski is the best-known Polish composer of his generation in and out of Poland "by far".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colin Brumby</span> Australian composer and conductor

Colin James Brumby was an Australian composer and conductor.


Josef Lammerz was a German composer, choral director and organist.

Romain Pelletier was a Canadian organist, choir conductor, composer, and music educator. His compositional output consists entirely of works for solo organ and motets. He was a founding member of the Société des artistes musiciens de Montréal and was a much admired teacher of counterpoint, fugue, and the organ.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frédéric Pelletier</span>

Frédéric Pelletier was a Canadian choir conductor, music educator, composer, music critic, journalist, civil servant, military officer, and physician. He was one of the principal music critics in Montreal during the first half of the 20th century, having worked in that capacity for every major publication in Montreal at one time or another. He was also a professor of music history at several institutions and worked as a choirmaster in several Montreal churches. His compositional output was mainly dedicated to sacred choral works, including several motets and carols, 2 oratorios, a Requiem Mass, and a Stabat Mater. He also wrote some works for solo organ, some songs, and a number of harmonizations of Canadian folk tunes.

Elizabeth R. Austin is an American composer.

Zsolt Gárdonyi is a German-Hungarian composer, organist and music theorist. He is the son of Zoltán Gárdonyi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patric Standford</span>

Patric Standford was an English composer, supporter of composers' rights, educationalist and author.

Jacob Mauney Cooper is an American composer living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willem Tanke</span> Musical artist

Willem Tanke is an organist and acclaimed recitalist known for his interpretations of works by J.S. Bach, Max Reger, Olivier Messiaen and contemporary composers. In addition he is noted for his own musical language as an improviser and a performing composer. As a teenager, he was drawn especially to wanting to play the organ by the religiously-inspired music of J.S. Bach and Olivier Messiaen, and also John Coltrane.

<i>O sacrum convivium!</i> Choral composition by Olivier Messiaen

O sacrum convivium! is a short offertory motet for four-part mixed chorus by French composer Olivier Messiaen, setting "O sacrum convivium". It was composed and published in 1937.

References


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.