He is a cellist who studied for a degree first at Indiana University and for his Masters degree at the State University of New York. He was the winner of the bronze medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1982 and won a further prize at the Parisot International Cello Competition, a Stulberg Award and G.B. Dealy Award as well as being awarded the McKnight Artist Fellowship as a solo artist and then in 2005 as a member of the Ross Rapier Cello Duo.
He became Principal Cello of the Rochester Philharmonic in 1987 and joined the Minnesota Orchestra in 1991, where he holds the position of also Principal Cello. With the orchestra he has performed as an orchestra member and soloist, where he has performed most of the well known or standard cello concertos. He has also performed as a soloist in cello concertos and works by contemporary composers and with his wife, the cellist Beth Rapier, he has championed Concerto for Two Cellos by David Ott. He was a musicians negotiating committee member during the 16 month lockout at the Minnesota Orchestra.
As a soloist he has performed concertos with many other orchestras that include the Dallas Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Moscow State Orchestra, the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra and the Wayzata Symphony Orchestra.
His work as a chamber musician he has been a member of the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota and Accordo, which he founded with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra violinist Steven Copes, and has seen him participating at numerous music festivals as a performer and/or teacher. Some of these include the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, the Colorado Music Festival, Mostly Mozart Festival and in Greece at the Rhodes Music Festival.
Recordings he has performed on include him featuring on Kalevi Aho: Quintet for Clarinet and Strings etc and The Sonatas of Rachmaninoff and Elliott Carter along with George Lloyd Cello Concerto by the Albany Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein: Three Meditations from the Mass, Sibelius:Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4, Jean Sibelius: The Seven Symphonies and Tchaikovsky: Piano Concertos; Concert Fantasia by the Minnesota Orchestra.
In the field of musical education he has been on the faculty of the Aspen and Grand Teton Music Festivals and taught at the Madeline Island and Interlochen Music Camps. He has also been a teacher at the Eastman School of Music.
Sources:
- https://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/about/our-people/orchestra-musicians/anthony-ross/
- https://www.chambermusicmn.org/artist-anthony-ross
- https://referencerecordings.com/artist/anthony-ross/
- https://thewso.org/2019/02/tony-ross-cellist-extraordinaire/
- https://www.startribune.com/there-s-a-lot-to-celebrate-as-minnesota-orchestra-cellist-tony-ross-turns-60/560686562/
- https://www.yourclassical.org/story/2014/04/16/cellist-tony-ross-staying-at-minnesota-orchestra
- https://www.allmusic.com/artist/anthony-ross-mn0001801037/credits
- https://www.discogs.com/artist/2907480-Anthony-Ross-4