The bassoonist and conductor Patrick de Ritis started his musical education at a very early age with piano and bassoon lessons. For many years he played both instruments and when he was seventeen dedicated himself fully to the study of the bassoon. He studied bassoon at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome with Marco Costantini, at the Salzburg Mozarteum with Milan Turkovic, and with Klaus Thunemann, and conducting with Franco Ferrara and Michael Dittrich, among others. Winner of various prizes and honours, he has served as principal bassoonist in the Vienna Symphony Orchestra since 1990, after holding similar positions in Rome at the Teatro dell’Opera and the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazonale della RAI. He has been invited to play with many international orchestras appearing as a soloist with Georges Prêtre, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Vladimir Fedoseyev and Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, among others. He is artistic director of the European Wind Soloists, vice-president of the Concertino Wien and professor of Chamber Music and Bassoon at the Luisa D’Annunzio Conservatory in Pescara.