ASO Announces New Music Director – Maestro James Ross
Posted May 21, 2018 | ASO News, Press Releases,
Alexandria, VA— Alexandria Symphony Orchestra’s Board of Trustees proudly announces that James Ross will be the ASO’s new Music Director. Following an extensive two-year search, Ross was selected from a pool of 170 applicants from around the world. As one of the four finalists, Ross programmed and conducted a concert weekend during the 2017-2018 Season, which garnered audience acclaim and praise from musicians in the orchestra.
“The ASO audiences and musicians were enthusiastic and thorough in giving feedback after each concert,” says ASO Board President Anne Best Rector. “A good part of the audience and almost all the musicians weighed in on each conductor’s performance and choice of program. Our community really embraced this process, so on behalf of the Board of Trustees, I am thrilled to present such a stellar choice as our next artistic leader.”
“With one foot in a rich past and the other firmly planted in the future, the city of Alexandria is a creative hub where old and new come into engaged conversation with each other,” says new Music Director James Ross. “It is an honor for me to be charged with leading this great institution, the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, into a vibrant future through adventurous orchestral music-making.”
James Ross is Orchestra Director of the National Youth Orchestra – USA at Carnegie Hall and is on the conducting faculty at the Juilliard School. Maestro Ross served as Professor and Director of Orchestral Activities at the University of Maryland at College Park for a distinguished 16-year tenure. He studied conducting with Kurt Masur, Seiji Ozawa and Leonard Bernstein.
Maestro Ross will conduct the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra’s 2018-2019 Season, launching in September and kicking off a year-long celebration commemorating the organization’s 75th Anniversary. Ross will make special appearances throughout the year with the orchestra and in tandem with other community events.
For a full biography of Maestro Ross, click here.