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The English conductor and composer, Graham Ross, began his training as a treble, pianist, organist and violinist. He read music at Clare College, Cambridge, studying composition with Giles Swayne, and conducting at London's Royal College of Music, studying with Peter Stark and Robin O'Neill.
In 2004, whilst at Cambridge, Graham Ross co-founded The Dmitri Ensemble, a performing group based around a string ensemble, of which he is Principal Conductor. In 2010, he made his BBC Proms debut, with opera work taking him to Jerusalem, Aldeburgh, and Musique-Cordiale, Provence. He held a conducting scholarship with the London Symphony Chorus (2008-2009), serving as assistant conductor for Sir Roger Norrington, Vladimir Jurowski and Diego Masson, and acted as Chorus Master for Sir Colin Davis, Sir Mark Elder, Ivor Bolton, Edward Gardner, Richard Tognetti and Lars Ulrik Mortensen. He was also Musical Director of Concordia Chamber Choir and Kingston Choral Society (2008-2010). In 2010, aged 25, he was appointed Fellow and Director of Music at Clare College, Cambridge, where he has directed the internationally renown Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, with whom he has toured across Europe, the USA, Asia and Australia, including performances at Washington's Library of Congress and Sydney Opera House.
Graham Ross has established an exceptional reputation as a sought-after conductor and composer of a very broad range of repertoire. As a guest conductor he has worked with Australian Chamber Orchestra, Aalborg Symfoniorkester, Aurora Orchestra, Salomon Orchestra and Southbank Sinfonia, making his debuts in 2016-2017 with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, London Mozart Players, European Union Baroque Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra and BBC Singers, as well as acting as Assistant Conductor to Vladimir Jurowski. He has worked with soloists Raphael Wallfisch, Richard Tognetti, Jennifer Pike, Laura van der Heijden and Guy Johnston.
In recent seasons his work has taken him to Sydney Opera House, Washington's Library of Congress and across Europe. At the age of 25 he made his BBC Proms and Glyndebourne debuts, with other opera work taking him to Jerusalem, London, Aldeburgh and Provence. A passionate believer in the unveiling of both unjustly-neglected and newly-written works, he has conducted and recorded world premières of a wide spectrum of composers, including Judith Bingham, Brett Dean Imogen Holst, James MacMillan, Matthew Martin, Nico Muhly, Giles Swayne, and Ralph Vaughan Williams, and premiere performances of works by John Rutter, Cecilia McDowall, Gabriel Jackson, Jocelyn Pook and others.
Highlights in 2017-2018 include performances of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 with the Purcell School Orchestra, Benjamin Britten's War Requiem with the Cambridge University Orchestra, Monteverdi's Vespers in Provence, concerts with Haydn and Covent Garden Chamber Orchestras, Salomon Orchestra, and overseas concerts with the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge across the USA, Switzerland, France, Italy and Malta.
Graham Ross' performances around the world and his extensive discography have earned consistently high international praise. His discography with The Dmitri Ensemble and the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge for Naxos Records and, since 2010/2011, Harmonia Mundi USA, has earned him Rising Star in BBC Music Magazine, a Gramophone Award nomination, a Diapason d’Or, Le Choix de France Musique, and Editor’s Choice in Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine. His latest recordings are the Dmitri Shostakovich/Rudolf Barshai Chamber Symphonies with The Dmitri Ensemble and "Reformation 1517-2017" with the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge.
As a composer, Graham Ross has written over one hundred works for a wide variety of genres that have been broadcast and performed by Aurora Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Barry Humphries, BBC Concert Orchestra, saxophonist Anthony Brown, City of London Sinfonia, National Youth Choir of Great Britain, Park Lane Group, Patricia Rozario, Solstice Quartet, and many choirs in the UK. Commissions have included BBC Concert Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, National Youth Choir of Great Britain, O Duo, Park Lane Group, and the Solstice Quartet. He is published by Novello & Co, Oxford University Press, Encore Publications and the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music.
Graham Ross is Artistic Director of Fringe in the Fen, a biennial music and arts festival in Fenstanton, Cambridgeshire, raising funds for Macmillan Cancer Support. He is a Patron of the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music. As an animateur and through outreach work he has conducted projects in Tower Hamlets, Wigmore Hall, English National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, BBC Singers, Sue Perkins, and a song-writing project with Alzheimer’s and dementia sufferers for English Touring Opera; and overseas in Nigeria, Palestine, across Europe and the USA. In 2015, he represented the UK as adjudicator for the Malta International Choir Festival. |
