Biography

Dundee born Ross grew up in Arbroath in Angus. He began his musical training with the National Youth Choir of Scotland, featuring as a soloist on their CD of Scots songs. He studied singing at RSAMD, graduating with a BMus, went on to study opera at the Royal Academy of Music and later at the Royal College of Music’s International Opera School.

During these years of training, Ross has been watched with interest by Scottish Opera. He possesses a real bass voice which is rare in the UK and which observers believe is capable of reaching a high level of performance.

In his first year at the Royal Academy, Ross performed in three of the Academy’s productions, including the role of Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia, where his performance was judged to be ‘outstanding’. In his second year, he sang Barolo in Le Nozze di Figaro, under Sir Colin Davies. During his time at the Royal College of Music, Ross performed with distinction, singing roles as diverse and demanding as Sarastro, Quince and Krusina.

Ross has been offered a place at the prestigious National Opera Studio, London, the studio from which many a stellar career in opera has been launched. The trustees have also watched Ross’s progress with great interest and have been delighted to be able to help with his postgraduate training, both at the RAM and later at the RCM’s Opera School.

How the Award Helped

The Dewar Arts Award will help towards the costs of studying at the National Opera Studio in London.

Since the Award

During his year at the National Opera Studio, Ross successfully auditioned for the role of Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni with Opera della Luna where he performed it as part of the 2011 Iford Arts Festival.

Later in the year, he successfully auditioned for the Emerging Artist scheme at the Scottish Opera. Ross says of his final year at NOS that “I felt like I had never worked so hard but equally I had never been so motivated to do so.”