Gary Fink is the Jazz and Percussion Instructor at Ridgewood High School in New Jersey. He founded the RHS Percussion Ensemble in 1986, which has become recognized as a superior group by nationally known clinicians and educators. The ensemble has been chosen to be part of the Chamber Society of Lincoln Center's Young Musicians Program twelve times, the first and only percussion ensemble to receive that honor in the program's history. Fink has been the conductor for the high school's musical pit orchestras since 2004 and has performed or conducted in the pit orchestra of over 150 musicals.
Fink has also directed the USSBA All Star Percussion Ensemble, NJ Region I High School Jazz Ensemble, New Jersey City University Percussion Ensemble and the NJ Region I and II Percussion Ensembles. He has toured China as director of HYPE and since 1992, he has toured Europe with several thousand high school musicians as the Director of the American Music Abroad Red Tour.
Fink was the Principal Percussionist for the Ridgewood Concert Band from 1984-2001. He was a founding member of the Ethos Percussion Group, and he has performed as a member of the Hunter Symphony and the New Jersey Percussion Ensemble. He studied music at the Eastman School of Music and William Paterson College.
Fink has been awarded a Teacher Recognition Certificate from the National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts twice, and he has helped revamp the percussion auditions for both the NJ All-State Band and All-State Jazz Ensembles. Fink is active as a clinician for symphonic percussion and drum set and has worked with students in the Region I Jazz Ensemble, Bergen County Band, the NJ Region I Symphonic Band and the NJ Symphony Academy Orchestra.
