Hailed for his versatile and passionate brand of music-making, performance, and educational outreach, conductor Andrew Ritchie is currently serving as the graduate assistant conductor of Northwestern’s Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Baroque Music Ensemble. He also serves as assistant conductor of the Alice Millar Chapel Choir. Previously, Andrew held the positions of graduate assistant conductor for Northwestern’s Symphony Orchestra and for their Contemporary Music Ensemble where he led several world premieres. Before coming to the Chicago area, he was active with the Colorado Youth Symphony Orchestra as assistant conductor and made appearances as conductor and chamber music coach for the Omaha Area Youth Orchestras. Throughout the 2020-21 season, Ritchie held the Mark Sheldon Conducting Internship with the St. Martin’s Chamber Choir while working as a freelance cellist and vocalist in Denver, Colorado.

He is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting at Northwestern’s Bienen School of Music studying with Donald Schleicher and previously, Victor Yampolsky. Andrew also holds a MM from University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music in Choral Conducting, as well as a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Ritchie began his teaching career in the Omaha Public Schools where he taught orchestra, band, and general music to students 4th-12th grade. Additional mentors include Catherine Sailer, Donald Nally, Stephen Alltop, Bob Hasty, Aviva Segal, Bill Shomos, and Karen Becker.