From 1996 to 2004 Tritle was music director of the Dessoff Choirs, noted for performances of contemporary music. Tritle holds graduate and undergraduate degrees from Juilliard in organ performance and choral conducting and has been on the Juilliard faculty since 1996.

Tritle is the 11th director in the Society's 133-year history; he succeeds Lyndon Woodside, who died last August at age 70. Woodside led the Oratorio Society for 32 years, earning a Grammy award for a 1976 recording of a concert celebrating Carnegie Hall's 85th anniversary.