English-born composer and international concert guitarist Ross Thompson serves on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music pre-college and Community School of Music and Arts in Mountain View. His dedication and excellence as a professor of guitar has earned him an honorary chair, dedicated in his name, in the Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Ross completed his masters and postgraduate degrees at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the Royal College of Music in London. Ross spent his childhood in Puerto Rico before moving with his family to the United States. Ross currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Ross has been invited by a number of international festivals and schools to perform 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, Lima (ICPNA), San Francisco Performances (US), and the National Conservatory of Peru (Lima).
Ross has received commissions for premiering original music from various institutions including the California Shakespeare Festival (US), Leo Kestenberg Musikschule (Germany), The San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and the Institute of Nano Science, Seoul National University (South Korea). He is a first-prize winner in the American String Teachers Association National Competition (ASTA).
In addition to performing, teaching, and composition, Ross is a publisher of music. His music catalog includes 15 books of original compositions, manuscripts, and a discography of 10 recordings including chamber music, solo guitar, and songs.
Ross Thompson and concert flutist Natalia Kaminska-Palarczyk form the duo, Blue Heron. They have performed original works in South Korea and the United States. Additional performances include his symphony for orchestra, a work for guitars and strings dedicated to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the Kestenberg Guitar Quartet performed in Berlin at the Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut and the Festival of Contemporary Music (Original Töne Festival) (Musikschule Paul Hindemith).
Ross’s teaching style is characterized by a very supportive, humorous, and creative approach. Students receive vital technical direction while learning new work to perform from memory. Guitar study is comprehensive and includes sight reading, harmonic analysis, musicianship practice, history, ensemble, and improvisation. His students have gone on to attend universities and conservatories including Harvard, Brown, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. His mission is to teach music so that it remains a staple of practice and performance throughout the lives of his students.