Ronnal Ford, II – Third Oboe, English Horn

Ronnal Ford, a DMA oboe student at UNC Greensboro, has been playing English horn and oboe with the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra since the 2011-2012 season. Ronnal currently teaches at Guilford Technical Community College and Forsyth Technical Community College. Prior to those appointments, he held positions as the Graduate Teaching Assistant for the oboe studio at UNCG, and has served as the Adjunct Professor of Music at Winston Salem State University, where he taught Oboe, Bassoon and Violin. In addition to the Fayetteville Symphony, Ronnal often performs with the Durham Symphony, Western Piedmont Symphony, and the Piedmont Wind Symphony on flute, oboe, and clarinet. He is also an active chamber musician with the award-winning reed quintet, Quintet Sirocco.

In 2008, he completed his Master of Music degree in English horn and oboe performance at the North Carolina School of the Arts, where he studied with John Ellis. In addition to the oboe, Ronnal is pursuing a cognate in multiple woodwind performance, where he also studied flute, clarinet, saxophone and bassoon, along with a music theory pedagogy certificate. Upon completion of his DMA degree, Ronnal is looking to continue performing in orchestras and chamber ensembles, as well as teaching on the collegiate level. His teachers have included Dr. Ashley Barret and John Ellis (oboe), Dr. Kelly Burke and Dr. Anthony Taylor (clarinet), Dr. Deborah Egekvist (flute), Dr. Michael Burns (bassoon), and Dr. Steven Stusek (saxophone).

In his free time, Ronnal can be found playing with his 2 children, 2 dogs, cooking and cruising around town on his Kawasaki Vulcan 800 Classic. Ronnal can be found via his website, http://RonFordMusic.com.

To Educate. To Entertain. To Inspire.

The Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1956 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and is a professional, regional orchestra whose mission is to educate, entertain, and inspire the citizens of the Fayetteville, North Carolina region as the leading musical resource. Praised for its artistic excellence, the Symphony leads in the cultural and educational landscape for Fayetteville and the southeastern North Carolina region.

The Fayetteville Symphony typically performs 8 concerts during any given season performing both at Methodist University and Fayetteville State University. Partnerships with other agencies include collaborative performances with Cape Fear Regional Theatre, chamber concerts at St. John’s Episcopal Church, as well as the city’s annual Independence concert with fireworks. The Symphony brings music to the schools and the community by performing educational concerts, as well as having its own Fayetteville Symphony Youth Orchestra, after school strings and summer music camps.