John Ross

About John Ross

A native of New Jersey, Ross received training in composition at Florida State University and the University of Iowa; his principal teachers were John Boda and D. Martin Jenni. Thanks to a Fulbright grant, he has also studied with Philippe Manoury in Lyon, France. 

His music has been performed at the Society of Composers, Inc. National Forums, several university music schools, and in France. His awards include the first Abraham Frost Prize from the University of Miami, several ASCAP awards (including a young composer grant), a summer residency at Yaddo, and the 2002 Rudolf Nissim Award. After a Line By Theodore Roethke, a work for soprano and orchestra, was one of three works chosen for the Sixth International Composer Readings by the Riverside Orchestra of New York City and was performed at the Mid-American Center for Contemporary Music at Bowling Green State University. 

Dr. Ross recently was one of three composers to be recognized at the Southwest Regional Concert, September 29, 2018 in Dallas, by members of the Dallas Symphony, for the Rapido Composition Contest.  On April 1, 2023, his work for two pianos, Relentless Refractions, was performed by Duo Mundi – George & Guli at Steinway Hall in New York City, and at Bowdoin College on October 20, 2023. 

Of Ross's piece Passages, Daniel Ginsberg of the Washington Post has said, "a beguiling exploration of color and melody ... soaring figures nestled in a dreamlike haze of sound." 

Currently, Ross teaches aural skills, theory and composition at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas. 

Selected Compositions by Dr. John Ross

Relentless Refraction (2023)

Dead Man Walking - Finale

Movements (1988)

After a Line By Theodore Roethke (1997)

Columbia

03 3 for 3 - Movement 3 (2006) 

Education

Ph. D, University of Iowa, Iowa, U.S.A.

Additional work at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique (Lyon, France) and the American Conservatory, Fontainebleau, France

M.M., Florida State University, Forida, U.S.A.

B.M., Covenant College, Georgia, U.S.A.