Frank Ferko

Frank Ferko (b. June 18, 1950, Barberton, Ohio) is an American composer.

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 under Howard Boatright and Will Headlee, and wrote his thesis on Messiaen. Following this, Ferko worked as a director of music in a church before teaching at Northwestern University. He pursued a doctorate there, studying composition under Alan Stout and working as a music librarian.

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 works of Hildegard von Bingen. It would be the first of several large-scale projects inspired by Hildegard, followed by The Hildegard Motets and The Hildegard Triptych. Ferko premiered a Stabat Mater in 1999, commissioned by His Majestie's Clerkes. He has also worked as composer-in-residence with the Dale Warland Singers.

Recordings

• The Hildegard Organ Cycle (Arsis Audio, 1995)
• Motets (Arsis, 1995)
• Stabat Mater (Cedille Records, 2000)

References

• Thomas Oram, Frank Ferko at Allmusic