Instrument/Department: Director of Philharmonia and Sinfonia
Joined Hochstein Faculty in: 2002
John Fetter is Music Director of the Hochstein Philharmonia Orchestra and the Hochstein Sinfonia Strings. He has been a member of the conducting faculty since 2002, and has also been a Suzuki and traditional violin teacher, chamber music coach, and summer camp director. For more than 20 years, he directed the Hochstein summer camp String Jam: Alternative Styles for Strings. In addition to his work at Hochstein, he is Director of Orchestras at School of the Arts in the Rochester City School District.
While teaching at the Eastman School of Music for more than a decade, Dr. Fetter was actively engaged with music teaching in the urban community. He coordinated the Urban Strings partnership between Eastman and the Rochester City School District, work for which he received the University of Rochester’s Presidential Diversity Award in 2012 and the Rochester Education Foundation’s Making a Difference Award.
Fetter earned his Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Music degrees in music education from the Eastman School of Music and his Bachelor of Music from the University of Northern Iowa. Beginning his education career as a Suzuki violin teacher, he was a faculty member of the University of Northern Iowa Suzuki School. He then was public school orchestra director in Greeley, Colorado, and performed in orchestras in Colorado and Wyoming.
As a conductor, Fetter has worked with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Richmond Symphony Orchestra, and New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra. He also has appeared with the latter as a violinist, and coordinates the festival’s Words on Music series. While occasionally found sitting in with blues and folk musicians, he also enjoys performing in chamber music settings and has performed on the Hochstein Faculty Artist Series, “Spotlight on Faculty.”