Prof. Michael Ferril began violin studies through the Glendale Unified School Strings Program and quickly progressed to private lessons with Purcell Mayor, a member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Hollywood Bowl Orchestra in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Mr. Ferril attended Cal State Northridge under scholarship and faculty, Endre Granat and Robert Lipsett. During the summers of 1977-1981 Mr. Ferril attended The Meadowmount School of Music, Ivan Galamian Director, and studied with Sally Thomas and chamber music with Josef Gingold.
After graduating from The Juilliard School of Music in New York, Mr. Ferril returned to the Los Angeles area and continued recording for various musical artist such as Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Neil Diamond, Natalie Cole, Glenn Campbell, Jessica Simpson, The Eagles, The Who, Earth Wind and Fire and Elvis Costello and The Roots. Mr. Ferril has recorded in over 750 motion pictures as well as hundreds of commercials. The composers that Mr. Ferril has worked under include Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, George Delarue, David Newman, Randy Newman, Miklos Rosza and Maurice Jarre just to name a few. Mr. Ferril’s professional live performances include The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra under John Mauceri’s baton, The American Ballet, The Kirov Ballet, The Harlem Ballet, The Joffrey Ballet, The Bolshoi Ballet and The Civic Light Orchestra at the Los Angeles Music Center. From 1987-2005 Mr. Ferril regularly recorded at Paramount Studios in the Star Trek television series including The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise, also recording for the TV programs Jag and MacGyver. Mr Ferril performs and teaches on a JB Guadagnini,1750,Milan,Italy violin being loaned from TMU.
The Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival requested Mr. Ferril’s musical expertise every year from 1987-2005. He taught students from numerous states and countries that culminated in individual, group and orchestral performances. Mr. Ferril also performed in the same settings. For over 35 years, Mr. Ferril has maintained a private violin studio. Many young well-known violinists have passed through his studio such as Robert Chen (Chicago Symphony Concertmaster), Sheryl Staples (New York Philharmonic Assistant Concertmaster), Michelle Kim (New York Philharmonic Associate Concertmaster). Leila Josefowicz and Tamaki Kawakubo, the latter winning the Tchaikovsky Competition in Russia. Mr. Ferril was honored with service for teaching at CSUN 25 years in May of 2015. He was born and raised in Southern California, and is married to Marilyn and has three children.
