Sam Ritter (b. 1990) is an Atlanta-based musician whose work encompasses conducting, composition, piano, voice, and organ. Raised by career Army musicians—an Army bandmaster and an Army Band French hornist and vocalist who later became a harpist—Ritter grew up immersed in music and has developed a career that moves fluidly between the concert stage, recording studio, opera house, and church.

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Ritter holds a Doctor of Music degree in Choral Conducting from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, with minors in Composition and Music Theory. His principal composition teachers included Daniel Musselman, Sven-David Sandström, and P.Q. Phan. His doctoral project, The Mourning Jewels, is a twenty-minute work for chorus and orchestra exploring the journey through trauma and healing. A passionate advocate for new music, Ritter has written for and collaborated with ensembles in the United States and abroad.

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His compositions have received recognition in several national and international competitions. He was a finalist in the Morton Gould Young Composers Competition and twice a finalist in the Caritas International Emerging Composers Competition in Canterbury, Kent. The Caritas Chamber Choir has recorded two of his works on its A Caritas Collection albums, Volumes I and II. In 2012, he received an honorable mention in the Vanguard Premieres Choral Composition Competition in Michigan.

As a conductor, Ritter has worked extensively with collegiate, professional, and community ensembles. At Indiana University, he served as associate conductor of NOTUS, the University Singers, and the University Chorale. He has prepared choruses for productions and performances including Penderecki’s St. Luke Passion, Jake Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life, West Side Story, The Music Man, Dialogues of the Carmelites, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Cleveland Orchestra. In 2019, he served as Music Director of New Voices Opera, conducting the premiere of a new student opera.

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Ritter’s career as a vocalist has taken him across the United States and Europe. He currently sings with Atlanta-based professional chorus Coro Vocati and remains on the roster of the Beckenhorst Singers under conductors Dan Forrest and Craig Courtney. He previously sang with the Nashville Symphony Chorus and with il Coro da Camera Italiano and the New Chamber Singers in Rome, Italy. In 2020, he performed for Queen Elizabeth II under the direction of renowned Welsh composer Paul Mealor.

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From 2017 to 2021, Ritter worked as a session vocalist at Airborn Studios in Indianapolis, where he was featured on more than 500 published choral octavos, including the premiere choir recording of Elaine Hagenberg’s O Love. His work as a performer continues across a variety of settings as a professional pianist, conductor, composer, vocalist, and organist.

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Ritter currently serves as Director of Music at St. Mary & St. Martha of Bethany Episcopal Church in Buford, Georgia, where he is organist and director of choirs. He particularly enjoys improvising at the organ, an interest that reflects his broader fascination with harmony, texture, and spontaneous musical creation.

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As Knight & Key, Ritter releases original solo piano music characterized by its quiet, reflective, and atmospheric qualities. His recordings are available on all major streaming platforms.

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Outside of music, Ritter enjoys hosting dinner parties, growing cut flowers, biking, playing ultimate frisbee, and traveling.