News on your favorite shows, specials & more!
Ralph Farris Headshot

Ralph Farris

Birth Place: Boston

Get Ralph Farris Email Alerts

Be the first to get news, photos, videos & more.

BIO

Multi-instrumentalist, composer-arranger, producer and conductor, Ralph Farris is a connecting force on the frontlines of new music. An award-winning graduate of The Juilliard School, and 3-time Tanglewood Fellow, Ralph is a founding member and Artistic Director of the genre-bending string quartet ETHEL. The onetime Music Director and Solo Fiddle of the Roger Daltrey Band, Ralph was an original company member of Disney's "The Lion King" on Broadway. He has performed in concert with such luminaries as Paul Simon, Pete Townsend, Leonard Bernstein, Alice Cooper, Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road project, Sinead O’Conner, Joe Jackson and Lou Reed.  His composition commissions include the Jerome Foundation; dance evangelists Monkeyhouse; Las Vegas darlings Jarrett & Raja; Walnut Hill School for the Arts; and the NEA. His scoring credits include Noelle Brower's “Everything is Ordinary;” Anika Burt's "Begin Again;" and Jehane Noujaim's "Pangea Day" industrial, and Aquila Theatre's "A Female Philoctetes." 

Productions

 
[Broadway, 1997]
Violin/Viola

Videos

News


String Quartet ETHEL And Bassist Ron Carter to Present REFLECTIONS ON MONK AND BACH

The string quartet ETHEL and legendary bassist Ron Carter will join forces for an unforgettable classical-jazz mashup performance at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall this winter. Learn how to purchase tickets.
String Quartet Ethel Releases 'Persist' Album with Flutist Allison Loggins-Hull

Acclaimed string quartet ETHEL has released their eighth album Persist, for which the group reconvened with the dynamic flutist Allison Loggins-Hull. Listen to it here.
Composers Concordance Will Perform ETHEL Next Month

On Sunday, October 6th, 2024 at 5pm, Composers Concordance will present the renowned quartet ETHEL on a program of new music including several premieres.
Composers Concordance to Present ETHEL at Church St. School Next Month

On Sunday, October 6th, 2024 at 5pm, Composers Concordance will present the renowned quartet ETHEL on a program of new music including several premieres.
Acclaimed String Quartet ETHEL Unveils Fall 2024 Highlights

New York City’s ETHEL has announced its upcoming Fall 2024 activities centered around the release of its forthcoming album Persist on Sono Luminus Records (TBR 11.29.24).
ETHEL String Quartet Reveals Fall 2024 Highlights

ETHEL String Quartet revealed its fall 2024 highlights including a New Sounds LIVE concert, a Southwest tour with Robert Mirabal, a Brooklyn Public Library performance, and more. See full programming and learn how to purchase tickets.
Grammy Award-Winning ETHEL to Headline the Hermitage's 15th Annual Artful Lobster

The Hermitage Artist Retreat announced that world-renowned and Grammy Award-winning string quartet ETHEL will headline the Hermitage’s signature fall fundraising event, “The Artful Lobster: An Outdoor Celebration!” on Saturday, November 11th from 11:30am to 2pm at the Hermitage campus on Manasota Key.
Grammy-Award Winning ETHEL String Quartet to Bring Spirited Strings To Morris Museum in July

In their first Back Deck appearance since 2021, the string quartet ETHEL will bring their particular brand of contemporary music to Morris Museum on July 18.
ETHEL Comes to GatherNYC (Museum of Arts & Design)

GatherNYC, the revolutionary weekly concert experience founded and directed by cellist Laura Metcalf and guitarist Rupert Boyd, announces the groundbreaking string quartet ETHEL as the second guest artist of its Spring 2022 season, held at the series’ new home at Museum of Arts and Design (MAD).
Savant Records Reissues Jim Snidero's Acclaimed 'Strings'

Snidero took the opportunity to enhance the 2001 tracks in spots, adding the masterful bowed bass of David Finck.
ETHEL's Fifth Round Of HomeBaked Composer Initiative Calls For Scores

ETHEL invites early-career music creators to submit their scores for Round V of ETHEL's HomeBaked commissioning initiative. This iteration of HomeBaked calls for works for flute and string quartet, as ETHEL will partner in collaboration with their longtime friend, flutist, composer, and producer Allison Loggins-Hull.
BWW CD Review: THANKFUL: A BENEFIT ALBUM FOR JERAD BORTZ Provides Broadway Inspiration

BWW Review: THANKFUL: A BENEFIT ALBUM FOR JERAD BORTZ Provides Broadway inspiration on Rock-It Science Records
The Next Festival of Emerging Artists Launches 'Next Fest Connects'

 Faced with the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, The Next Festival of Emerging Artists, the unique contemporary music festival founded in 2013 by composer, conductor, and bassist Peter Askim, acted quickly to address the needs of musicians by forming a new component: Next Fest Connects. 
Henning Rubsam Announces The New SENSEDANCE SUNDAYS

After the overwhelming feedback Henning Rübsam received upon releasing his 2015 work 'And there was Morning' online via his YouTube channel DanceArtJoy this past Sunday,  he decided to make one archival work of his company SENSEDANCE public for free on every Sunday during the current crisis.
Lakewood Cultural Center Presents ETHEL's Documerica

a?oeETHEL's Documerica,a?? presented by the Lakewood Cultural Center at 7:30 p.m. on March 13, is a multimedia concert that melds multiple-screen video projections with original music by some of today's top composers, performed with electrifying virtuosity by the indie-classical quartet ETHEL. The projections showcase evocative imagery from a?oeProject Documerica,a?? a massive archive of photographs commissioned by the Environmental Protection Agency in the 1970s, soon after the agency was established in the wake of elevated concern about environmental pollution. Through new music, ETHEL explores this compelling snapshot of a tumultuous era that powerfully connects to today's environmental and social issues.
National Sawdust Has Released December Schedule

2019-20 Artists-in-Residence Kinds of Kings present Real Loud, the first of four concerts in their Equilibrium and Disturbance series String quartet ETHEL presents fourth chapter of their HomeBaked Project, an initiative showcasing emerging composers, Canadian Brass presents 50th anniversary of their annual holiday celebration
THE RIVER Will Come to the WYO Theater

The WYO Theater welcomes New York based contemporary string quartet ETHEL and award-winning Native American artist Robert Mirabal to the stage Friday, November 22 at 7:30pm when they present their inspired collaboration, The River.
The Jewish Museum And Bang On A Can Present Julia Wolfe's String Quartets Performed By ETHEL

Bang on a Can and the Jewish Museum's 2018-2019 concert season, pairing innovative music with the Museum's exhibitions and showcasing leading female performers and composers, continues today, February 28, 2019 at 7:30pm. The acclaimed string quartet ETHEL performs the complete string quartets of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Julia Wolfe: Dig Deep, Early that Summer, Four Marys, and Blue Dress. This is the first performance of all of Wolfe's string quartets at one time, on one stage.
Laurence Hobgood To Release New Album 't e s s e t e r r a'

Grammy-winner and world-renowned pianist/composer/arranger Laurence Hobgood will release his new album  t e s s e t e r r a  on April 26th, 2019. 
Bang on a Can, The Jewish Museum Present Julia Wolfe's String Quartets Performed by ETHEL

Bang on a Can and the Jewish Museum's 2018-2019 concert season, pairing innovative music with the Museum's exhibitions and showcasing leading female performers and composers, continues on Thursday, February 28, 2019 at 7:30pm. The acclaimed string quartet ETHEL performs the complete string quartets of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Julia Wolfe: Dig Deep, Early that Summer, Four Marys, and Blue Dress. This is the first performance of all of Wolfe's string quartets at one time, on one stage.  

Get Ralph Farris Email Alerts

Be the first to get news, photos, videos & more.

Videos