Musician Spotlight by Lauren Fischer
James Ferree
PRINCIPAL HORN
When James Ferree, Principal Horn of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, was in the second grade, he was disqualified from a statewide composition contest. To this day, he considers the incident to be one of his greatest accomplishments as a composer.
“ My mom got a phone call from the contest administrators who were accusing me of cheating, because they didn’ t think I wrote my piece,” Ferree said.“ I was disqualified from the competition, because they couldn’ t believe that a second grader could write music like that. I wasn’ t Mozart, not even close, but I just found a sound that I liked, and I wrote it down.”
Since learning the piano in second grade, Ferree has been an avid composer, and now focuses on works for chamber ensembles, solo horn, and orchestral arrangements. He further refined his composition skills during his time at Julliard, taking advanced music theory classes and using his limited free time to compose.
“ My typical day as a student was camping out in a room, bringing a bag of food and my horn, and I would practice horn. When my chops got tired, I would sit down at the piano and I would start working on a new composition,” Ferree said.“ Then, my arms would get tired, so I went back to horn. The building security guard would have to kick me out at the end of the day,” he joked.
Composing, for Ferree, scratches an itch different from playing horn in the Orchestra. What starts as a jolt of inspiration or a musical idea turns into something that deeply affects other people.
“ Anytime I’ m composing, it’ s like creating a new world,” Ferree said.“ When my music connects with someone else, that’ s really when the hours and days of writing and clicking a mouse in the computer software feel real. It ' s like, this is out in the world for someone else now. It’ s really satisfying.”
Mitro Hood
JAN-FEB 2026 | OVERTURE | 5