COF Chorus Meet the Conductor
Ray Fahrner
Conductor, composer and Director of the Office of Performing Arts, Dr. Fahrner founded the
COF Chorus in October of 2005. As a conductor, he has worked with not only the COF Chorus, but also the
Old Stoughton Musical Society, the Boston Chamber Ensemble, the Jamaica Plain Symphony, the Greater Marlborough Symphony Orchestra, and the Cape Cod Community College Chorus. Musicians as disparate as
Richard Stoltzman and
Joey McIntyre have come under his baton. He is currently in his 30th year as music director of the
Cambridge Chamber Singers, who performed at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC in 2007. A graduate of the
College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati, and of
Trinity College, Dr. Fahrner has also served as Artistic Director of
Young Audiences of Massachusetts, Acting Administrative Officer of
MIT’s Department of Mathematics, and Associate Professor of Music at
Ohio Northern University.
A champion of contemporary music, Fahrner has programmed thirty world premieres and over a hundred American premieres, including those of Gyrgy Ligeti. An award-winning composer and fellow of the
MacDowell Colony, Ray’s compositions include works for orchestra, chorus, jazz band, television and theater, including
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, for which he was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Composers Fellowship. His most recent CD,
Pointed Music, was released in November of 2015.