Russell Ferrara

Russell Ferrara is a crossover artist, composer and educator working in the classical, New Age, contemporary instrumental and indie-pop fields. Starting from a classical guitar perspective he has pioneered the use of synthesizers controlled by guitars. Over the last 10 years Russ has toured extensively, backing top selling artists IL DIVO and IL VOLO, with his own group, GRAY DOG DOWN, and as a soloist. Locally, Russ holds forth weekly as a soloist at Ariano in Media, PA, playing popular classics, pop song arrangements, Flamenco, and his own series of classical guitar arrangements of garage band instrumentals. He also often works as a bass guitarist.

The upcoming third GRAY DOG DOWN recording [The Wedding] will be the fifth of his career including the groundbreaking album THE PHILADELPHIA GUITAR ENSEMBLE [Stradivari Records] and a 1995 effort [Hole In Their Heads] by the group SHADOWDANCER, which is the first album ever released which uses guitar synthesizers on every track. Russ also appears on the 1989 recording of “Revelation in the Courthouse Park” by Harry Parch on Tomato Records.

Russ has had a long academic career including stints at Drexel University, East Stroudsburg University, Bucks County Community College, The University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, Immaculata and Eastern Universities. He is the author of a guitar method, Guitar Calisthenics, which has been recently updated to include recorded accompaniments for each example in the book. He is also the composer of numerous student pieces for ensembles of guitars. Russ has been a career-long advocate of ensemble playing for guitar students and currently leads a student ensemble at Steel River Playhouse in Pottstown where he has been a faculty member since it opened in 2008. He is also a faculty member and ensemble director for the Georgia Music Camp and a consultant to the “Music with Mr. Browne” program in the suburbs of Atlanta.

Very early in his career Russ developed an interest in arts management. He became the Public Relations director of the Philadelphia Classical Guitar Society, eventually its Vice President and finally President for five years. In 1984, Russ became Associate Director of Suburban Music School in Media with primary responsibility for business development. His tenure saw the school grow from 30 to 450 students. Russ also ran a successful local talent agency, CONCERTS A LA CARTE, providing chamber music to individual and corporate clients.

Russ was fortunate to receive a broad music education, beginning at age 8 with the Pueri Cantores of St. Roccos, a soprano/alto boys choir led by Fr. Paul Mazzocchi. Father Paul taught in the European style using Kodaly hand signals. Russ picked up the guitar when he aged out of the Pueri Cantores and he studied it halfheartedly until discovering classical guitar in his late teens. He eventually found his way to the studio of Ed McGuire at Mount Aloysius College, one of the few higher educational institutions offering guitarists an educational opportunity at the time. Upon completion of studies at Mount Aloysius, Russ was sent off with a letter of recommendation to Alice Artzt, with whom he studied privately until receiving a Future Business Leaders Scholarship to attend Temple University where he received a Bachelor of Music degree graduating Magna Cum Laude.