Music

Paul Ferington, hailed by the Buffalo News as a “distinguished local conductor” and by ArtVoice as a “local musical treasure,” joined the adjunct music faculty roster at Buffalo State in fall 2009 as director of the Music Department’s new BSC Philharmonia and instructor for the department’s first online course Music and Political Action.

Maestro Ferington is also in his 30th year on the Conducting Staff of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. He has conducted the Grammy Award-winning Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in over 450 performances at more than 68 locations and venues around Western New York, Northern Pennsylvania, Southern Ontario, and at Kleinhans Music Hall since 1985.

A graduate in Orchestral Conducting from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, he has traveled internationally as an orchestral conductor and recital accompanist. In addition to his music career, Maestro Ferington was awarded Professor Emeritus from the State University of New York, and in May 2005, received the State University of New York Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. During his 32 years as a professor and senior academic administrator, he served as coordinator of music, chair of fine arts, and for 12 years, executive vice president and dean of academic and student affairs. He received numerous honors including awards from the National Association of College Academic Advisors , the Rotary International Foundation Group Study Exchange Program to Israel, and the OperaBuffs Educator of the Year. His leadership and administrative expertise are now incorporated with his role as a presenter for the Druminar – Team Building Experience, headed by BPO Principal Percussionist Mark Hodges.

In addition to his teaching responsibilities in the Music Department, Maestro Ferington created the Buffalo Philharmonic’s BPOvation Lectures, an adult education series of music appreciation classes, now in their 8th year and designed to expand awareness and understanding of classical music and Buffalo Philharmonic concert programming. In April 2010, he received the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus’s Jesamine E. Long Award for Distinguished Service to the Chorus; in the same month, his 25 years of dedication to the Buffalo Philharmonic were honored by the Musicians of Orchestra with a commissioned orchestral work by Buffalo born composer Christopher Rogerson titled Luminosity; in addition, he was also honored by the Buffalo Philharmonic Society with its 25th Anniversary Artistic Leadership Award, and in November 2011 by the Buffalo Chapter of SAI as a National Friend of the Arts Member.