John Robert Bitterman

Bitterman, John Robert, age 62, of Minneapolis, passed away suddenly on January 24, 2023. His memorial service will be held on Sunday, January 29, at 2:00 PM with visitation at 1:00 P.M. John is survived by his wife Ekatarina and sister Joanna Smith (John Dailyda, Partner), nieces Laura Smith (Jonathan) and Nadine Hite (Eric) and grand nephew Peter Smith and grand nieces Mallory and Bridget Smith and Lucy Hite, as well as his beloved cat Basil. He is preceded in death by his parents Robert and Dorothy Bitterman. John was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and lived briefly in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey. He was raised in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, and attended Colonial School District schools and graduated from Plymouth Whitemarsh High School in 1978. He attended Temple University and graduated from Queens College CUNY in 1987 with a Bachelor in Music. He did graduate study in music at the University of Minnesota from 1996 to 1998, and was awarded the Schuessler Vocal Prize. John developed a love of music as a young boy and attended classical music concerts and studied violin and trumpet. He sang in church and school choirs beginning in elementary school. He was a member of the Plymouth Whitemarsh marching and concert bands. In high school he developed his rich baritone voice and sang in regional competitive choirs and decided to pursue music as a career. Minneapolis became his adopted hometown when he arrived in 1996 for graduate study and it was there that he came into his own as a musician. John performed opera and recitals around the country and traveled world-wide with the Rose Ensemble, an early music group based in St. Paul. He was a sought-after soloist with church choirs. He was the Founder/Artistic Director of the Silver Swan vocal chamber ensemble, which performed primarily early music, and Podvore, which performed sacred music. One noteworthy concert Silver Swan held was of music collected by Tsarina Alexandra Romanoff, which he had extensively researched. John was a prolific composer, composing numerous works for choirs and instrumental ensembles. He became a scholar of Russian Orthodox music and became very active in the Russian community in Minneapolis-St. Paul, where he met his beloved wife Katia. In addition to his musical career, John was the collaborative partner in Katia Andreeva Art, where he assisted his wife in managing logistics and sales of her original art pieces. He also had a career in mortgage administration with Well Fargo Bank, rising to the position of Work Director. His memorial service will be held on Sunday, January 29, at 2:00 PM, and will be live streamed through the link on this website. www.Washburn-McReavy.com Hillside Chapel 612-781-1999 https://view.oneroomstreaming.com/index.php?data=MTY3NDk1NTc1MjIzMjg5OCZvbmVyb29tLWFkbWluJmNvcHlfbGluaw==

Tributes

John Robert Bitterman

March 31, 1960 - January 24, 2023

Tributes

John Robert Bitterman

March 31, 1960 - January 24, 2023

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