He is a bassonist, conductor and teacher whose interest in music started when he began playing the piano when he was 8 years old. When he was 14 he entered Rome’s Conservatorio di S. Cecilia but had changed his preference to bassoon. He also studied in Salzburg’s Mozarteum.
He entered the several chamber competitions and often won as a bassoon soloist. In 1978 he won he competition as soloist for the Abruzzese Symphonic Orchestra in Italy and remained with them until 1982.
He also recorded for Radio Svizzera. That same year he became a member of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra where he is First Bassoon. With the orchestra he has performed as an orchestra member and a soloist and toured nationally and internationally. He has also ben a member of Chamber Orchestra Wiener Concertino-Verein.
As a conductor he has performed with several Italian orchestras. He is also the artistic director and founder of the European Wind Soloists and a founder of the Chamber Orchestra Concerto Wien.
His recordings include Guitar Works by Raffaelle Bellafronte amd Italian Orchestral Works by the Wurzburg Philharmonic Orchestra and Italian Opera transcribed for wind ensemble by the European Wind Soloists.
In the field of musical education he became a teacher at Lecce Conservatory in 1982 and has been a lecturer in the performance of chamber music with wind instruments at the Conservatorio L. d’Annunzio in Pescara, Italy. He has also taught at several other conservatories and held master classes.
Sources:
- https://www.wienersymphoniker.at/de/orchester/die-wiener-symphoniker#115892
- https://danzireeds.it/en/musicista/patrick-de-ritis/
- https://www.bmop.org/explore-bmop/musicians/patrick-de-ritis
- http://www.ariadimusica.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/DE-RITIS-en.pdf
- https://www.discogs.com/artist/4974938-Patrick-De-Ritis
- https://www.allmusic.com/artist/patrick-de-ritis-mn0002186720