Claire Ritter

Claire Ritter (born May 31, 1952, Charlotte, North Carolina) is an American composer and pianist working in a style that fuses jazz with classical, new music, and occasionally other world music cultures. Early life and study Ritter grew up on a horse farm in rural Weddington, North Carolina, and began piano lessons in the public school system at the age of seven. As a teenager, she studied with jazz pianist-arranger Ziggy Hurwitz. In 1974, she received a B.S. in Education from Appalachian State University, where she was also an amateur athlete, competing in tennis, softball, soccer, field hockey, and basketball. to study with pianist Ran Blake and attend New England Conservatory. She lived in Boston for 16 years, during which time her compositions were performed and recorded with artists such as Steve Swallow, Ricky Ford, and Dave Holland, and Boston-area musicians such as Dominique Eade, Ran Blake, and Stan Strickland. In 1996, she served on the faculty of the New England Conservatory Contemporary Improvisation Department and taught Contemporary Songwriting. Her composition, “In Between”, was recorded in 1986 by Ran Blake on The Short Life of Barbara Monk and by Franz Koglmann on