Mary Ritch:  

Life An honors graduate from both the University of Missouri at Kansas City (B.M. '95) and the University of Southern California (M.M. '98), Mary completed her D.M.A. in horn performance from the University of Southern California in 2002. An Illinois native, Mary began her study of the horn at 14 with William Scharnberg and at 19 took a hiatus to pursue a career in law. She resumed playing the horn in her late twenties and returned to school at 28 to complete her undergraduate degree in music performance under the guidance of Nancy Cochran Block. Since returning to the horn, Mary has won many awards, including UMKC Conservatory's 1994 Concerto Competition, where she performed with the Conservatory Orchestra, and in the International Horn Society's Midwest Regional Workshops and Sigma Alpha Iota Music Fraternity solo competitions. She was also awarded the Division Achievement Award for Instrumental Studies her final year at UMKC. Ms. Ritch has performed in numerous public master classes with such artists as John Cerminaro, Phil Meyers, Eric Ruske and Randy Gardner. She was principal horn of UMKC's orchestras for three years and USC's opera orchestra for two years, and has performed professionally with the Kansas City Camerata and the St. Joseph Symphony, where she was assistant principal for two years. Mary has also performed several seasons with the Utah Festival Opera and has adjudicated at the Utah State Fair Music Competition. Mary relocated to California in the mid 1990s to pursue graduate studies initially with David Krehbiel, and later with James Decker. Since coming to Los Angeles, Mary has enjoyed many eclectic performance experiences as a freelancer, including participation in numerous orchestral, opera and chamber music per...Expand for more