Jay Ritchie

Jay Ritchie joined the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 2016 as Assistant Principal Timpani and Section Percussion. Ritchie has also performed as a guest with many other major orchestras, including the Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, National Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Ottawa’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Malaysian Philharmonic, and the Sun Valley Music Festival Orchestra.

In 2019, Ritchie was featured as a soloist with the DSO in Philip Glass’s Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra, alongside DSO colleague Jeremy Epp. As a chamber musician, Ritchie has appeared frequently with Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings, New Music Detroit, and the Strings Music Festival in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

An active educator, Ritchie maintains a private teaching studio in Detroit and frequently works with percussion students in the DSO’s Civic Youth Ensembles program. In 2024, he was a guest faculty member at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater and Dance. Ritchie has also given masterclasses at major conservatories and universities throughout the US. He is an endorser and clinician for Freer Percussion and Remo.

Raised in Blacksburg, Virginia, Ritchie began studying piano at age eight and percussion at age 11. He earned a Bachelor of Music from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Duncan Patton, Chris Lamb, and She-e Wu, and a Master of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music as a student of Paul Yancich and Marc Damoulakis.