JAMES ROSS
James Ross has conducted more than 1,500 works in 19 countries throughout Europe, North America, Asia and Africa at venues including the Royal Festival Hall, Westminster Abbey for Queen Elizabeth II, Birmingham’s Symphony Hall, Ankara’s new Presidential Symphony Orchestra Hall in Turkey, and leading the inaugural concert of Sri Lanka’s Nelum Pokuna Theatre in Colombo. Training first as a violinist, he studied at Harrow School and Oxford University, taking a history degree, then a master’s in music and a doctorate on French Opera, Politics and the Press. He is music director of five UK orchestras and artistic director of Kent Sinfonia since 2020, which whom Throne of Kings, a new album of music by Vaughan Williams for Shakespeare plays, recorded for the first time, is released by Albion Records on 1 November 2024. Alongside conducting most of the standard symphonic, choral and opera repertoire, James Ross has worked with some of the world’s greatest singers including Sir Thomas Allen, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Olga Borodina, Danielle de Niese and Janice Watson, directed many contemporary music premières including for the Center for Contemporary Opera in New York and Milan, and raised more than £1 million in
concerts for charities, including with English National Ballet. He also is artistic director of record label Ulysses Arts.
James Ross studied at London’s Southbank International
School and won scholarships to Harrow School in London
and Christ Church at Oxford University, where he studied
Modern History, then Music as a postgraduate; his doctorate
on French Opera, Politics and the Press was awarded
Oxford’s prestigious Sir Donald Tovey Prize. He studied
violin, viola and singing, gained extensive orchestral and
chamber music experience and was a 1998 BBC
Philharmonic Conducting Competition finalist. Since then he
has conducted in nineteen countries in Asia, Europe, Africa
and North America. UK performances include at The Royal
Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall, St John’s Smith Square,
Symphony Hall Birmingham, state occasions in Westminster
Abbey for Queen Elizabeth II, and Oxford’s Sheldonian
Theatre, for whose 350 th anniversary concert he conducted
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
In the UK, he is Artistic Director of Kent Sinfonia, with whom he will release an album of previously unrecorded music by Vaughan Williams for Albion Records in autumn 2024, and Music Director of Sidcup Symphony Orchestra, Haslemere Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Welwyn Garden City Orchestra and Chorus and Bridgnorth Sinfonia. As Artistic Advisor of The Commonwealth Resounds, he conducted The Commonwealth Festival Orchestra in the UK, Malta and Sri Lanka, including the first orchestral performance at Colombo’s Nelum Pokuna Theatre, concerts and tours in Turkey and Uganda with the Purcell and Chetham’s Schools, UK conservatoire musicians and Royal Over-Seas League. He has conducted more than 1,500 works including the complete symphonies of Beethoven, Borodin, Brahms, Dvořák, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky, operas by Bizet, Britten, Janačék, Mozart, Puccini, Tchaikovsky, Verdi and Wagner, and many ballet scores. Singers with whom he has worked include Sir Thomas Allen, Janice Watson, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Olga Borodina and the UK National Opera Studio. As a contemporary music conductor, his numerous first performances include collaborations with the City of London Sinfonia and Arts Council, at London’s Saatchi Gallery with Philharmonia Orchestra members, and opera productions for the US Center for
Contemporary Opera in Milan and New York. James Ross also has extensive business experience as director of record label and classical music consultancy Ulysses Arts, which provides strategy advice, due diligence, label services to venues, orchestras, soloists and record companies. Clients include Apple, Deutsche Grammophon, the Berliner Philharmoniker, L’Orchestre de Paris, L’Orchestre national de Lille, 21C Media Group, Juilliard School, Meyer Sound Laboratories, Barbican Centre, Nimbus/Lyrita Records and Afghanistan National Institute of Music. As a guest speaker, James Ross lectured at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France; he has taught at Oxford University and contributed to books and journals, especially on French music and culture. He has helped raise over £1 million performing for charities, including conducting English National Ballet in aid of Syrian refugees for Save The Children. He is a
UK Independent Society of Musicians Fellow, and on the Board of Directors of The Commonwealth Human Ecology Council.
During the COVID-19 Pandemic, James Ross produced more than 30 recordings for Ulysses Arts, conducted a televised concert broadcast and recording in Istanbul with the Büyükada Ensemble; and led the Ankara City Philharmonic Orchestra’s inaugural concert at the Presidential Symphony Orchestra Hall.
Maestro James Ross dirigirao je više od 1.500 djela u 19 zemalja diljem Europe, Sjeverne Amerike, Azije i Afrike, nastupajući na mjestima poput Royal Festival Halla, Westminster Abbey (za kraljicu Elizabetu II.), Birmingham’s Symphony Halla, nove koncertne dvorane Predsjedničke simfonije u Ankari u Turskoj, kao i na inauguracijskom koncertu kazališta Nelum Pokuna (Šri Lanka) u Colombu.
Studirao je violinu u Harrow School i na Sveučilištu Oxford, gdje je stekao diplomu iz povijesti, magisterij iz glazbe i doktorat na temu francuske opere, politike i tiska, za što je nagrađen prestižnom Tovey nagradom. Ima bogato iskustvo u orkestralnoj i komornoj glazbi te je bio finalist na BBC Philharmonic Conducting Competition 1998. godine. Njegovi nastupi u Ujedinjenom Kraljevstvu uključuju Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall, St John’s Smith Square, Symphony Hall u Birminghamu, državne prigode u Westminsterskoj opatiji i Sheldonian Theatre u Oxfordu.
Od 2020. godine, umjetnički je direktor Kent Sinfonia i glazbeni direktor pet orkestara u Ujedinjenom Kraljevstvu, uključujući Sidcup Symphony Orchestra, Haslemere Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Welwyn Garden City Orchestra and Chorus te Bridgnorth Sinfoniju. S Kent Sinfonia će u studenom 2024. izdati album 'Throne of Kings' s ranije neizvođenim djelima Vaughana Williamsa pod Albion Records. Kao umjetnički savjetnik organizacije The Commonwealth Resounds, dirigirao je The Commonwealth Festival Orchestra u Ujedinjenom Kraljevstvu, Malti i Šri Lanki te vodio koncerte i turneje u Turskoj i Ugandi.
Ross je surađivao s mnogim poznatim pjevačima, uključujući Sir Thomasa Allena, Dmitrija Hvorostovskog, Olgu Borodinu, Danielle de Niese i Janice Watson, te dirigirao kompletnim simfonijama Beethovena, Brahmsa, Dvořáka, Mendelssohna, Schumanna, Rahmanjinova i Čajkovskog, kao i operama Bizeta, Mozarta, Verdija i Wagnera.
Uz dirigiranje, Ross je i direktor diskografske kuće Ulysses Arts, koja pruža strateške savjete, analizu i izdavačke usluge za orkestre, soliste i diskografske kuće. Njegovi klijenti uključuju, primjerice, Apple, Deutsche Grammophon, Berliner Philharmoniker, L’Orchestre de Paris i druge. Kao gostujući predavač, održao je predavanja u Bibliothèque Nationale de France, predavao na Sveučilištu Oxford te pridonio brojnim knjigama i časopisima, osobito o francuskoj glazbi i kulturi.
James Ross pomogao je prikupiti više od milijun funti za humanitarne organizacije, uključujući dirigiranje English National Ballet u korist sirijskih izbjeglica za 'Save The Children'. Tijekom pandemije COVID-19 producirao je više od 30 snimaka za Ulysses Arts, dirigirao televizijski koncert u Istanbulu i vodio inauguracijski koncert Filharmonije grada Ankare u dvorani Predsjedničke simfonije. Član je UK Independent Society of Musicians i Upravnog odbora The
Commonwealth Human Ecology Council.