Rick Ferguson is a pianist, composer, and teacher in the Evanston music scene.
An active chamber musician and avid recital partner, Rick Ferguson was selected to be a senior fellow for the Chicago Chamber Musicians and has performed chamber music, solo, and concerto repertoire in the US and Europe. He maintains an active life as teacher, composer, and arts advocate as co-founder and artistic director of The Musical Offering in Evanston, Illinois, and formerly as classical piano instructor at the Chicago Academy for the Arts. On the composition side, Concerto Grosso on Dystopian Themes for youth orchestra is a commissioned work through Foundation 65 in Evanston, Illinois, which was premiered in May 2018. Additional pieces in the works are Equity Suite for concert band and Prelude, Toccata and Fugue for piano and percussion ensemble. Upcoming commissions include On Beauty for soprano, violin and piano on a text by Kahlil Gibran,
In 2020, Mr Ferguson helped co-found the Evanston Performing Arts Collective (EPAC) and is also a recording artist on the Southport and Albany Records. Mr. Ferguson is a strong advocate of STEAM-based education in the public schools. In his spare time, Mr Ferguson enjoys creating lecture-performance videos on his YouTube channel (Rick Ferguson Music).
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Mr. Ferguson holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Birmingham-Southern College (magna cum laude) and earned a Master of Music degree from the University of Houston where he studied with world-renowned concert artist Abbey Simon. His studies have also taken him to the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, MA and Northwestern University, where he undertook post-graduate study. Teachers and mentors include Daniel Ericourt, Deborah Sobol, Ivan Davis, Joseph Block, Jörg Demus, Delores Hodgens-Howard and Roy McAllister.
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As a Co-Founder and Artistic Director of The Musical Offering in Evanston, Illinois, and as a chamber music and piano coach, I offer a wealth of experience and knowledge to students at all levels. Contact me to inquire!
“I founded The Musical Offering as a place for teachers who value music education as the process of bringing a work to life and sharing your personal joy in that process with students.”
