Music Staff
The Cathedral Music staff bring professional and educational experience that add depth and range to the Music program.
Kent Tritle
Director of Cathedral Music & Organist
Kent Tritle is one of America’s leading choral conductors. Called “the brightest star in New York's choral music world” by The New York Times, he is Director of Cathedral Music and Organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City; Music Director of the Oratorio Society of New York, the acclaimed 200-voice volunteer chorus; and Music Director of Musica Sacra, New York’s longest continuously performing professional chorus.
In addition, Kent is Director of Choral Activities at the Manhattan School of Music and is a member of the graduate faculty of The Juilliard School. An acclaimed organ virtuoso, he is also the organist of the New York Philharmonic and the American Symphony Orchestra and on the organ faculty of the Manhattan School of Music.
Kent Tritle founded the Sacred Music in a Sacred Space concert series at New York’s Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, and led it from 1989 to 2011. From 1996 to 2004, he was Music Director of New York’s The Dessoff Choirs. Kent hosted “The Choral Mix with Kent Tritle,” a weekly program on New York’s WQXR, from 2010 to 2014. Kent Tritle’s discography includes recordings on the Telarc, AMDG, Epiphany, Gothic, Pro Organo, VAI and MSR Classics labels.
Bryan Zaros
Associate Director of Music & Choirmaster
Bryan Zaros is a young American conductor recognized for his “strong musical imagination” and “deep sense of musicality and communication.” Bryan is the Associate Director of Music & Choirmaster at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City where he leads the Cathedral Choirs, Orchestra and Brass in liturgical as well as concert performances in the grand space of the world’s largest Gothic cathedral. He is also the Music Director of the Pro Arte Chorale, Music Director of Central City Chorus, and a frequent guest lecturer at the Manhattan School of Music and at music conferences throughout the USA. Currently he serves on the Board of Directors of the New York Choral Consortium, on the Advisory Board to Music Sacra New York, and is a conductor for the American Federation Pueri Cantores.
A native New Yorker, Bryan began his professional musical training as a member of the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus and as a boy chorister at the Church of the Transfiguration, NYC. He earned a Bachelor of Music in Sacred Music from Westminster Choir College, a Master of Music in Conducting from the University of Michigan, and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting from the Manhattan School of Music.
Recent conducting engagements have included invitations with choirs and orchestras throughout the USA, Europe and South America. Most notably he has conducted ensembles at David Geffen Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the National Cathedral in Washington D.C., at American Choral Directors Association Conferences, on the film set at Warner Bros. Studios and at various cathedrals in England including Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral and Canterbury Cathedral. He is a recipient of several conducting awards and fellowships including an American Prize award in Conducting. For more information about Bryan, visit www.bryanzaros.com
Daniel Ficarri
Associate Director of Music & Organist
Named one of the top “20 under 30” organists by The Diapason magazine, Daniel Ficarri (b. 1996) is Associate Director of Music and Organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, NYC and a published composer of organ, choral, and chamber music.
A dynamic concert artist, Daniel has made appearances in Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall under the batons of Marin Alsop, Itzhak Perlman, David Robertson, James Gaffigan, and Bernard Labadie; and he has performed in many of the country’s great concert halls and houses of worship, including Symphony Hall in Boston and St. Patrick’s Cathedral in NYC. The New York Times has featured Ficarri in the “Week’s 8 Best Classical Music Moments,” and WQXR-FM presented him as part of the 2014 Bach Organ Marathon. Daniel studied the organ with Paul Jacobs at The Juilliard School, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
Ficarri’s broad compositional output includes inaugural organ works for the Miller-Scott Organ at St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue and the restored Hazel Wright Organ at Christ Cathedral (formerly Crystal Cathedral); chamber works for a collaboration with violinist Stella Chen and for organ and cello duo Greg Zelek and Thomas Mesa; and sacred choral works ranging from his grand Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis in D, premiered by Kent Tritle and the Cathedral Choir and Cathedral Brass of St. John the Divine, to his understated Ah, Holy Jesus for the Church of St. Paul the Apostle, NYC, written during his tenure there. Much of Ficarri’s music is published by E. C. Schirmer and MorningStar. Daniel studied composition privately with Rachel Laurin.
Jacob Gruss
Organ Scholar
Pittsburgh native JACOB GRUSS is a fourth-year undergraduate organist at The Juilliard School studying in the studio of Paul Jacobs. Currently based in New York City, Jacob serves as Organ Scholar at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine where he performs regularly with world-class orchestras, choirs, and musicians. At Juilliard, Jacob boasts a regular performance schedule including concerts on many of New York’s renowned instruments. Beyond a vast solo repertoire, Jacob’s performances often involve collaborations; including his recently premiered transcription of Richard Strauss’s “Morgen!” for soprano and organ.
Jacob won First Prize and Audience Choice in the 2024 Albert Schweitzer Young Professionals Competition in Hartford, CT. He also placed first in the Westmorland Symphony Orchestra's Young Artist Competition, first in the Cassel Competition (Harrisburg, PA), and was a winner in the 2023 AGO Quimby Northeast Regional Organ Competition.
Jacob is grateful to be named a recipient of the American Guild of Organists' (AGO) Pogorzelski-Yankee Memorial Scholarship, and was the inaugural recipient of the Robert and Nancy Powell Scholarship. In 2022, Jacob was awarded the AGO’s Student Commission Grant, premiering “Earth-Waves” by Boston-based composer Owen Johnson. In addition to organ, Jacob studies conducting, composition, improvisation, and harpsichord. In his free time, Jacob enjoys travel, opera, biking, and art.
jacobgruss.com
Molly Yuko McGuire
Music Administrator
Molly Yuko McGuire is the Music Administrator for St. John the Divine. She brings a wealth of experience from her work as an administrator and assistant to music directors at various churches along the East Coast, spanning from Boston to New Haven and now New York. A recent graduate of the Yale Institute of Sacred Music's Voxtet program, Molly eagerly blends her passion for sacred music with the vibrant community at St. John the Divine. As a classical vocalist, Molly has a deep interest in vocal chamber ensemble repertoire, with a focus on both new and early music.