ROSS THOMPSON COMPOSER AND CONCERT GUITARIST

About Ross Thompson
English-born Composer and Concert Guitarist Ross Thompson spent his childhood in Puerto Rico before moving with his family to the United States. Mr. Thompson has performed internationally as a soloist and has been invited by a number of festivals and schools to perform and teach including the International Festival of Contemporary Classical Music (Lima, Peru FIMCCL), Leo Kestenberg Musikschule Berlin Tempelhof-Schöneberg (Germany), Mozarteum of Uruguay (Montevideo), Seoul National University (South Korea), National Conservatory of Music (Rio Gallegos, Patagonia, Argentina), Peruvian North American Cultural Institute (ICPNA), San Francisco Performances (USA), and the National Conservatory of Peru (Lima).

Mr. Thompson has received commissions for original music from various institutions including California Shakespeare Festival (USA), Leo Kestenberg Musikschule (Germany), and the Nano Institute of Seoul National University (South Korea). He is a first prizewinner in the American String Teachers Association National Competition (ASTA).

Currently, Mr. Thompson lives in California. In addition to performing, teaching, and composition, Mr. Thompson is a publisher of music. His Editions Ross Thompson Publications print music catalog includes over 500 pages of original compositions for guitar solo and a discography of 5 recordings. The entire catalog is available for download at www.rossthompson.com. Most recently he traveled to South Korea to debut a newly commissioned original program for solo guitar (Namsan/South Mountain). In May of 2011 his Leo Kestenberg Guitar Quartet was performed in Berlin at the Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut and the Festival of Contemporary Music (Original Töne Festival) (Musikschule Paul Hindemith).

Ross Thompson serves on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music preparatory division. His dedication and excellence as a professor of guitar has earned him an honorary seat, dedicated in his name, in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall. During his higher education, he completed his masters and post-graduate degrees at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and at the Royal College of Music in London

History:
Concert programs combine original works with other guitar repertoire to demonstrate how traditions in musical style can influence compositional work and creativity. Some of the composers he performs include Fernando Sor, Mauro Giuliani, Kaspar Mertz, Franz Schubert, Augustín Barrios, Francisco Tárrega, Isaac Albéniz, Manuel de Falla, Joaquin Rodrigo, Astor Piazzolla, Alberto Ginestera, Hans Werner Henze, Francesco da Milano, Johann Matelart, John Dowland, Silvius Weiss, and Johann Sebastian Bach. In addition to performances of repertoire and original work, Mr. Thompson has taught classes throughout the world on performance and technique.

The 2010 - 2011 concert seasons included a tour of South Korea with concerts in Yonghin, Pajoo, and Seoul. The tour was sponsored by Seoul National University (SNU) with a series of concerts commemorating the foundation of the university’s Institute of Nano Science. The invitation included a substantial commission for a major work for guitar solo, Namsan/South Mountain and performances with the Korean classical guitarist and Sony/Asia recording artist Hyung Soo Ahn.

In 2009 Mr. Thompson toured South America with concerts and master classes in Buenos Aires, Uruguay, and Peru. The tour included performances with the Uruguayan guitarist-composer and Savarez recording artist, Carlé Costa. A highlight included a performance in one of the southernmost regions of South America at the Auditorium Complejo Cultural in Rio Gallegos, Patagonia, Argentina.

In 2009 Mr. Thompson was invited by the Peruvian North American Cultural Institute (ICPNA) to perform in Lima. In 2008 he was invited to teach and perform by the Leo Kestenberg Musikschule (Tempelhof-Schöneberg) in Germany including concerts in Berlin and the region of Bayern. From 2003 to 2007 he represented the performance organization San Francisco Performances as a teacher and mentor for students in the San Francisco bay area. In 2007 he established Editions Ross Thompson Publications (ERT) and released three printed volumes of original work and matching recordings on. The collection, currently at over 500 pages, represents a substantial contribution to the solo repertoire. Mr. Thompson toured South Korea for the first time in 2007 with concerts in Seoul and the coastal city of Hyundai.

Since 2003 Mr. Thompson (BA,MA,AS) has been a professor of guitar studies at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Preparatory, one of the most successful music programs for young people in the United States. His students have gone on to attend prestigious universities and music schools throughout the world. Mr. Thompson toured Argentina for the first time in 2001 including solo concerts in Buenos Aires, La Plata, and a performance at the historic Teatro Colón in Mar de Plata. In 1998 Mr. Thompson was a composer for the California Shakespeare Theater, Orinda. His music was met with critical acclaim by San Francisco Chronicle’s Steve Winn who wrote, “Ross Thompson’s fiery score and seductive underscoring outshine the verse…”

In the nineties he began working with the Berlin-Seattle electronic duo of Joel Schalit and Vance Galloway to produce a variety of projects including recordings and remixes of original solo guitar work.

During his higher education Mr. Thompson’s principal guitar teachers were David Tanenbaum at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (1994) and Carlos Bonell at the Royal College of Music in London (1991). During his secondary education he studied with Scott Kritzer in Portland, Oregon (Reed College, 1986). Mr. Thompson studied harmony and counterpoint with David Conte, Conrad Susa, Elinor Armer, and David Garner. In twentieth century composition techniques he studied with Alden Jenks and Robert Greenberg (San Francisco Conservatory of Music 1992 - 1994).

“Ross Thompson’s fiery score and seductive underscoring outshine the verse…”
- Steve Winn, San Francisco Chronicle/SF Classical Voice

“Sounding like ‘Dowland meets the 20th Century’, Ross’s music is a very original and interesting creation. His use of polyphonic techniques and forms brings forth moods and ideas in a very natural and intelligent manner. He plays with wonderful sensitivity and clarity.”
- Dušan Bogdanović, Geneva Conservatory

“The thinking of this guitarist composer runs directly, logically, and consistently with the crushing coherence of the contrapuntalist. His interpretations have the value of being extremely clear with far reaching control and supported by a brilliant sound and great presence. That is why the polyphonic texture from the shortest bursts to the long space of the Sonata develops with serene naturalness. A modernity absolutely not cryptical, that chooses the master road of the past to rephrase it by autonomy and originality, not an erudition or musical archeology but rather an exploration and appropriation of a language.”
- Elena Caneva from the Italian magazine, Seicorde, “Quei contrappunti chaiari e brillanti…”