Ray Archie (born July 29, 1970, in Oakland, CA) is an American musician, music industry executive and media technologist. He currently serves as CEO and Executive Director of Notes to the Soul. Archie is a member of Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) and a regular speaker at national Audio Engineering Society conventions.

At the age of 5, Archie began his piano studies. In 1977, he began playing cello under the tutelage of Wendy Cilman (from 1977 - 1980). His later teachers included Deirdre Crowden (from 1980 - 1984), Colin Hampton, and Mildred Rosner (from 1984 - 1990). During this timeframe, Ray studied composition and chamber music at the nonprofit Crowden School alongside the original 13 students from their inaugural year. In 1983, at the age 13, Archie began studying bass with Karla Lemon and Stephen Tramontozzi, assistant principal bass for San Francisco Symphony.


In 1983, Archie joined the Oakland Youth Orchestra, one of the Oakland Symphony’s most successful ventures. Composed of seventy-five teenage players, it made five commercial recordings and toured internationally. The orchestra regularly commissioned and premiered works – and Archie performed with the orchestra for the World debuts of Larry London’s Suite for Orchestra and Robert Hughes’ Not Suitable for Framing. [4] During his first 1983 season with the orchestra, Archie had the opportunity to perform several concerts with Denis M. De Coteau.


In the 1984 season, Archie went on his first tour with the Oakland Youth Orchestra to Scotland/England under the direction of Kent Nagano where they won 1st place in the Aberdeen International Youth Festival and also performed at the Festival of British Youth Orchestras, London, August 1984.

In 1986, Archie performed with the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra which embarked on its first European tour in 1986, where it was awarded the world’s highest honor for a young musician’s orchestral ensemble, the City of Vienna Prize, at the 15th International Youth and Music Festival. The orchestra won the "Vienna Cup" at the Youth and Music Festival and competition in Vienna [6] under the direction of David Milnes.[7]


In 1990, Archie was selected to attend the inaugural year of the Pacific Music Festival (PMF). From June 26 to July 13, Archie performed and toured with the first PMF Orchestra under the direction of Leonard Bernstein.[8] The first PMF Orchestra was comprised of 123 young musicians from 18 countries and regions selected from among roughly 900 auditions. Leonard Bernstein and Michael Tilson Thomas served as Artistic Directors and hand selected each musician (including Archie) to join the orchestra. You can see Archie in Pacific Music Festival 1990 [Bernstein and Friends in Japan] Vol.2 (minutes:: 19:03 - 19:23, 26:09 - 26:20, 30:58 - 31:06, 33:28 - 33:39, etc). [9] performing with both the PMF Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra at the Yokohama Arena.


During the summer of 1992, Archie was the principal bassist with the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and performed in Italy, Spain, and France, including a performance at one of the world’s most prestigious festivals, Aix-en-Provence. This tour was under the direction of Alasdair Neale. [10] That same year, performed the premieres both of Deborah Fischer Teason, Empires (1992, world premiere) and Richard Danielpour’s Song of Remembrance (1992).


During Archie’s time with the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, he was fortunate to have appeared on the 10th anniversary season commemorative CD for the following recordings:

Beethoven / Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Opus 67, David Milnes, conductor (Recorded July 18, 1986, at Budapest Musikakademie)
Ravel / Suite No. 2 from Daphnis and Chloë, Leif Bjaland, conductor (Recorded May 21 1989, at Davies Symphony Hall)
Prokofiev / Symphony No. 5 in B-flat, Opus 100 (4th movement), Leif Bjaland, conductor
Carlson / Twilight Night (commissioned by the SFSYO), Leif Bjaland, conductor (Recorded June 23, 1989, at the First Congregational Church, San Francisco)
Tchaikovsky / Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Opus 74, Pathétique, Alasdair Neale, conductor (Recorded November 24, 1991, at Davies Symphony Hall)

At the end of 1992, Archie was admitted to the New England Conservatory of Music and he moved to Boston to study classical bass. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.