John Ferguson, Strings/Artistic Director


American Bassist John Ferguson began his life of music making at the age of seven. After experimenting with clarinet and other woodwind instruments, the double bass found him at age 10 with Marvin Lewis, in the same year he made his first public performance.

While pursuing both Science and Music degrees at Stony Brook University, Mr. Ferguson continued his musical studying under the world-renowned bassist Julius Levine, who was famous not only as a soloist, but as well as a chamber musician. In 1997, Mr. Ferguson made his first concerto debut with the Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra by winning the all-instrument Concerto Competition there. This later led to many more orchestral and solo performances world wide, including major concert halls such as the Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall and the Juilliard Theater of Lincoln Center; Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Aspen Music Tent, Beijing Concert Hall and many more.

In 1997, Mr. Ferguson was accepted at the prestigious Juilliard School under the tutelage of Homer Mensch, former member of the New York Philharmonic and NBC Symphony under renowned conductors such as Otto Klemperer and Fritz Reiner. During this fruitful period, he continues his career by serving as principal with orchestras such as the Juilliard Orchestra, the Korean Chamber Orchestra, the Westchester Symphony Orchestra and among others. As an active chamber musician, Mr. Ferguson has also collaborated with musicians from the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra and other world renowned musicians at the Juilliard School.

Recently, Mr. Ferguson has been invited to give performances in China and will be returning to give master classes at several major music conservatories late this year. He now resides in the New York area with wife ChenXin Xu.



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