John Ritz is a composer, improviser, experimental music performer, sound artist, and educator. He is a proponent of interdisciplinary arts and collaborates regularly with visual and performing artists. His recent concert music focuses on chamber music for instruments and interactive computer systems. He is an Assistant Professor of Music Composition and Creative Studies at the University of Louisville.
Ritz has received recognitions for his work from the ASCAP/Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, the Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition, the 21st Century Piano Commission Competition, the Forum International de Musique Mixte du Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, and the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States.
Ritz’s music has been performed throughout the United States, as well as in France, Italy, Germany, Russia, Canada, and Chile. His music has been performed at various conferences and festivals, including the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS) National Conference, the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), the Bourges International Festival of Electroacoustic Music (IMEB), the Electroacoustic Music Festival of Santiago, Chile (CECh), the Sound and Music Computing Conference (SMC), the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival (NYCEMF), the Missouri Experimental Sonic Arts Festival (MOXsonic), the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC), the North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA) Conference, the Spark Festival of New Music and Art, the Florida Electroacoustic Music Festival (FEMS), Electronic Music Midwest (EMM), and the Maverick New Music and Arts Festival, among others.
Ritz received his B.A. from the University of Iowa, where he studied composition with Lawrence Fritts and cello with Charles Wendt, and his M.M. and D.M.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he studied composition with Erik Lund, Stephen Andrew Taylor, Vinko Globokar, Agostino Di Scipio, and Scott A. Wyatt.