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.
Jon Runion (b. 2001) is a first-year graduate student at The Juilliard School, pursuing a Master’s Degree in Organ Performance in the studio of Paul Jacobs. Jon has been appointed Friends of the Cathedral Organ Scholar for the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City and begins working with the Cathedral Music Program in August, 2025. Through this appointment Jon will be playing the Great Organ of the Cathedral for services and concerts and interfacing with the Cathedral’s renowned choral music program. He will mentor with the Cathedral’s music director and associate music directors: Kent Tritle, Daniel Ficarri and Bryan Zaros.
At Duquesne, Jon entered the organ studio of Dr. Ann Labounsky, where he received his introduction to the organ. Dr Labounsky is world-renowned as an expert on the organ music of her teacher Jean Langlais (1907-1991) and as a premiere pedagogue of the pipe organ. While at Duquesne, Jon served as organist at venues across Pittsburgh, including Heinz Memorial Chapel and the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer. Upon graduation, Jon was appointed Associate Director of Music at Resurrection Parish in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, where he served for two years as organist and oversaw the Children’s Music Ministry. Jon also assisted the Luley Organ Company in organ restorations, tunings, and new organ constructions during this time.
A native of Rochester, New York, Jon received early musical training on piano with his mother. He also studied trumpet, working with faculty members of the Eastman School of Music and musicians of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Jon earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Trumpet Performance from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA, where he studied in the studios of Micah Wilkinson and Chad Winkler. At Duquesne, he worked under the batons of Dr. James Gourlay and Daniel Meyer and members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
Jon is delighted to come to New York City and to join as a part of the Cathedral’s musical fabric. The Organ Scholar program is made possible by Friends of the Cathedral.