Graham Ross
Conductor
At a glance
Graham Ross
Conductor
To say he's impressive would be an understatementThe Telegraph
Graham Ross is Director of Music of Clare College, Cambridge, and Principal Conductor/co-founder of The Dmitri Ensemble. A composer and conductor of a broad repertoire, he has had works performed throughout Europe and beyond.
Biography —
Graham Ross has established an exceptional reputation as a sought-after conductor and composer of a very broad range of repertoire. He is co-founder and Principal Conductor of The Dmitri Ensemble and Director of Music and Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, with whom his performances around the world and his extensive discography have earned consistently high praise. In demand as a regular guest conductor of other ensembles in the UK and abroad, recent collaborations have included performances with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, BBC Singers, BBC Concert Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Aurora Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Aalborg Symfoniorkester, DR Vokal Ensemblet, Gothenberg Symphony Orchestra, and international tours with the Choir of Clare College.
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. He has conducted and recorded world premières of a wide spectrum of composers including James MacMillan, Judith Bingham, Giles Swayne, Vaughan Williams, Imogen Holst, Nico Muhly, Brett Dean, Lydia Kakabadse and Matthew Martin. He has conducted in more than twenty albums, and since 2011 he has recorded exclusively for Harmonia Mundi. His most recent album with The Bevan Family Consort entitled, ‘Vidi Speciosam: Sacred Choral Music’, was released by Signum Classics in May 2023.
His composition commissions have had premieres by the BBC Concert Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, National Youth Choir of Great Britain, Covent Garden Chamber Orchestra, O Duo, Park Lane Group, and the Solstice Quartet. He is founder and Artistic Director of Singers Abroad and a Trustee / Patron of the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music. He is a regular contributor on BBC Radio and has recently appeared as a guest presenter on Inside Music. In 2021 he was made an Honorary Fellow the University of Macau, where he was presented with a Half Moon Award for the Arts in 2019.
He studied music at Clare College, Cambridge and conducting at the Royal College of Music, London. He held a conducting scholarship with the London Symphony Chorus and has served as assistant conductor for Vladimir Juroswki, Diego Masson, Sir Roger Norrington, Nicholas Collon, and acted as Chorus Master for Sir Colin Davis, Sir Mark Elder, Ivor Bolton, Edward Gardner, Richard Tognetti and Lars Ulrik Mortensen.
Highlights for the 2023/24 season include performances with Hong Kong’s Tallis Vocalis, The Bevan Family Consort, BBC Singers, De Skønneste Kor, Ars Nova, and a US tour with The Choir of Clare College Cambridge.
News —
Choir of Clare College returns to St John’s Smith Square
Graham Ross conducts Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 Read more
Christmas 2023 with The Choir of Clare College & Graham Ross
Concerts in the UK + tours in USA and the Netherlands Read more
Graham Ross conducts The Bevan Family Consort
Debut album 'Vidi Speciosam' out on Signum Classics Read more
Rolling River: new recording of American music by Clare College Choir
New album, conducted by Graham Ross, features music by Muhly, Whitacre, Shaw and Bernstein Read more
The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge tour to the Netherlands
Graham Ross conducts 'A Spotless Rose' on 5-date tour Read more
Photos —
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Reviews —
Graham Ross judges the spacious juxtapositions of movement and silence exquisitely, the Dmitri Ensemble’s explosion of energy in the third interlude being simultaneously surprising yet entirely natural.
BBC Music Magazine on album 'Arvo Pärt: Stabat Mater'
Ross relishes the lustiness of ‘Wolcum Yole!’ without allowing scrappiness, and ‘There is no rose’ has a wealth of alluringly contoured dynamic detail.
BBC Music Magazine on album 'Britten: A Ceremony of Carols'
Clare College has emerged in recent years to the pinnacle of international recognition, and the fact that Graham Ross corrals these young men and women, who turnover every year, into such a unified and tonally suave unit is a testament to his innate musicality and leadership.
Audiophile Audition on 'Mater Ora Filium'
Shostakovich’s music and Rudolf Barshai’s very understanding re-imagining of it is expertly served in these superb performances, both in the technical sense and emotionally... Graham Ross and his expert colleagues make a wonderful case for these works and their outstanding performances have been captured in very fine recorded sound, produced and engineered by John Rutter. I hope that this very fine disc will be followed by recordings of Barshai’s arrangements of the Third and Fourth Quartets.
MusicWeb International - John Quinn on Graham Ross and the Dmitri Ensemble's disc 'Shostakovich - Barshai: Chamber Symphonies' on Harmonia Mundi
The singing and, above all, direction are of such consummate musicianship...
Gramophone - Caroline Gill on The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge disc of ‘Stabat Mater dolorosa: Music for Passiontide’ for Harmonia Mundi
This is immensely beautiful singing, the Choir of Clare College under Graham Ross producing a sound which is neatly manicured and has been polished to an almost flawless shine.
International Record Review - Marc Rochester on The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge disc of ‘Stabat Mater dolorosa: Music for Passiontide’ for Harmonia Mundi
It made no sense on paper … and yet, in the flesh seemed to tell a story that may well have explained everything. … In the playing (Tognetti particularly lithe in the Brandenburg Concerto moment; the nimble strengths of the vocalists arranged and directed by Graham Ross) … the obvious or cheap was skirted or managed. This had been a crazy brave excursion by the ACO and The Presets. I am almost astonished to realise that it worked.
Sydney Morning Herald - Bernard Zeul on Australian Chamber Orchestra’s ‘Timeline’ project
...impeccable diction… unforced grace… Under Graham Ross this was a virtuoso performance that showed the skill and courage of these young performers at their best.
Cleveland Classical - Nicholas Jones on The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge ‘Veni Emmanuel: Music for Advent’ concert in Cleveland Heights, Ohio
The Choir of Clare College sound exceptionally good, hauntingly so… Conductor Graham Ross deserves hearty congratulations for the wonderful precision and passion of the performances… It is a hands-down winner.
Gapplegate Classical Modern Music Review - Grego Applegate on The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge disc of ‘Veni Emmanuel: Music for Advent’ for Harmonia Mundi
To get something like this off the ground takes a particular set of talents, and the presiding talent here was the conductor Graham Ross... To say he's impressive would be an understatement.
The Telegraph
Selected Discography —
The Bevan Family Consort - Sacred Choral Music
Opera NowThe sound is rich and strong…I loved it…the blend is faultless…an album of joy
Rolling River: American Choral
BBC Music MagazineRoss and Clare College Choir make a strong case for Bernstein’s stripped-down version of the Chichester Psalms. Organ, harp and percussion provide the accompaniment, and allied with youthful voices, light on vibrato, produce an altogether leaner, more transparent aesthetic impression than the fuller orchestral version.
Ice Land: The Eternal Music
BBC Music MagazineAn ethereal, escapist set of recordings from the Cambridge choir, bringing together Icelandic choral music from the last half-century. Sævarsson’s Requiem forms the centrepiece – a hypnotic, reflective wonder.
Arvo Pärt: Stabat Mater
BBC Music MagazineGraham Ross judges the spacious juxtapositions of movement and silence exquisitely, the Dmitri Ensemble’s explosion of energy in the third interlude being simultaneously surprising yet entirely natural.
Britten: A Ceremony of Carols
BBC Music MagazineRoss relishes the lustiness of ‘Wolcum Yole!’ without allowing scrappiness, and ‘There is no rose’ has a wealth of alluringly contoured dynamic detail.
O lux beata Trinitas
Gramophone MagazineThis really is exceptional singing – immaculately balanced and blended, with text always at its heart. Ross and his young singers have given us quite the gift in this series. I can’t wait to hear what they do next
Reformation 1517-2017
BBC Music MagazineThanks to the instrumental incisiveness of Clare Baroque, a splendid quartet of soloists, and Ross’s well-chosen tempos, the Bach has plenty of bite. All in all, an astutely conceived, rewarding addition to Luther year
Pange Lingua: Music for Corpus Christi
Financial Timesradiantly sung...gloriously recorded...
Mater Ora Filium: Music for Epiphany
Financial TimesThis wide-ranging selection from Graham Ross and the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, is their most imaginative so far
Remembrance
BBC Music MagazineThis is a beautifully programmed and performed disc... Of recordings of the choir and organ version of Duruflé's Requiem, I've heard none better. This, though, is just the crowning point of an engaging and thought-provoking recital, including a perfectly poised and paced Harris Bring us, O Lord God and conductor Graham Ross's exquisite own arrangement of Abide with me.
Haec dies: Music for Easter
MusicWeb InternationalI can’t think of a better collection of music for Easter
Requiem: Music for All Saints & All Souls
Financial Timesthe Choir of Clare College, conducted by Graham Ross, summons all its eloquence for a masterpiece of the genre.
Shostakovich / Barshai: Chamber Symphonies
GramophoneThe rendition as a whole is nothing if not fresh and finely poised, the results are superb. Recommended.
Ascendit Deus: Music for Ascensiontide and Pentecost
GramophoneSplendidly bright...vigorous...haunting effect...all beautifully performed by this accomplished choir. Let’s hope an Easter disc is on its way.
Lux de Caelo: Music for Christmas
Sinfini MusicSinging-wise, this might just be the best disc of the year. These young voices are game for anything, impeccably drilled and musically sensitive.
Stabat Mater Dolorosa: Music for Passiontide
BBC Radio 3Carefully chosen, elegantly sequenced and excellently sung: one of the most attractive new Easter recordings of the year.
Veni Emmanuel: Music for Advent
Imogen Holst: Choral Music
BBC Music MagazineThese performances are poised, immaculate
Giles Swayne: Magnificat I; *The silent land Stabat mater; *Ave verum corpus; *Stabat mater
BBC Music Magazinea very worthwhile disc. ... Excellent performances and recordings.
Related Media —
Mary Bevan interviews Graham Ross
Mary Bevan speaks to conductor Graham Ross about working with the Bevan Family Choir on their album 'Vidi Speciosam - Sacred Choral Music' View on YouTubeRelease of Harmonia Mundi's Rolling River
Graham Ross and The Choir of Claire College Perform David Lang's Protect yourself from infection' View on YouTubePreview of "Shostakovich - Barshai: Chamber Symphonies"
An introduction to Graham Ross and the Dmitri Ensemble's latest release on Harmonia Mundi, recorded live at London's Cadogan Hall in February 2014 . View on YouTubeGraham Ross - "Shostakovich - Barshai: Chamber Symphonies" (Interview)
Graham Ross discusses Shostakovich and his Chamber Symphonies, which form part of his latest release with the Dmitri Ensemble on Harmonia Mundi. View on YouTubeGraham Ross conducts The Dmitri Ensemble and the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge - Live at the Cadogan Hall
Featuring Dmitri Shostakovich arr. Barshai: Chamber Symphony: I. Largo, II. Allegro molto (extracts) and Johannes Brahms arr. John Eliot Gardiner: Geistliches Lied Op. 30 (extract) View on YouTubeGraham Ross conducts The Dmitri Ensemble - Live at the Cadogan Hall
Extract of Dmitri Shostakovich arr. Barshai: Chamber Symphony Op. 110a, II. Allegro molto View on YouTubeMacMillan Seven Last Words from the Cross
James MacMillan Seven Last Words from the Cross View on YouTubeDownloads —
Contact —
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- Costa Peristianis