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Amanda Ross is an active musician and educator who is passionate about sharing stories and amplifying the voices of her students and others.  She performs in a broad range of settings, with extensive experience in contemporary, chamber, and orchestral ensembles. Her interests include social justice through the arts and education, improvisation, and exploring and expanding the sonic capabilities of the trumpet.  She has performed at NYU Skirball Center in New York City, Orchestra Hall in Detroit, Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and The Brother’s Lounge in Cleveland.

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She is passionate about music pedagogy and education.  She recently served as Instructor of Trumpet at the University of Michigan, where she worked with undergraduate and graduate trumpet majors in private lessons, studio class, and chamber coachings.  She also served as Graduate Student Instructor in Trumpet, where she worked with secondary and non-major trumpet students, constructed and taught the trumpet portion of Instrumental Methods, and provided additional teaching and administrative assistance with the trumpet studio.  She also has a private trumpet studio, with students ranging from beginner to advanced.  Many of her students have a multitude of interests, including college audition preparation, classical performance, jazz improvisation, composition, and military band audition preparation.  Recent accomplishments of her students include winning a position with the U.S. Air Force Band of the Golden West, acceptance programs such as Aspen Music Festival and the University of Michigan trumpet studio, and Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association All State High School Jazz Ensemble, High School Band and Middle School Band. 

 

Research and contributions to making the performance and study of music more equitable, accessible, and representative is a main focus for Dr. Ross.  In February 2019 she started a long-term research project centered around representation in trumpet pedagogy and performance. The first publication related to this research, “The Impact of Representation in the Arts: How Racism is Manifested in the Classical Trumpet World” was published in the January 2021 edition of the International Trumpet Guild Journal, where it was peer-reviewed and approved by the editorial board.

 

She is the co-founder of Girlnoise, a mixed-chamber ensemble committed to celebrating the artistry of women in contemporary chamber music.  The group has commissioned works for the ensemble by composers Annika Socolofsky, Nadine Dyskant-Miller, Tanner Porter, and Clay Gonzalez, among others, along with performing arrangements and original compositions.  They also work in the realm of sonic meditation and improvisation, exploring several works and the philosophies of Pauline Oliveros.  Recently Girlnoise was selected to present an original work, For What, For Whom at the 2021 New Music Gathering in St. Paul, Minnesota.  They have also performed as featured artists at the University of Michigan Museum of Art in their ArtsX concert series, Canterbury House (Ann Arbor, MI), the University of Michigan’s School of Music, and in community spaces throughout Southeastern Michigan.

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​She is a prolific chamber musician, performing in several chamber ensembles of various sizes and instrumentations. In 2019 she performed with the International Contemporary Ensemble as an improvising ensemble member for the New York premiere of P. Multitudinis by George Lewis.  She was also an ensemble member for the 2019 world premiere of Monteverdi Shapero by Alvin Lucier in Banff, Alberta, Canada.  She also held membership in ÆPEX Contemporary Performance, University of Michigan Faculty Brass Quintet, and Contemporary Directions Ensemble.  She has participated in chamber festivals across the world, including as featured artist at Ensemble Evolution (2019), Strange Beautiful Music XI (2018), Strange Beautiful Music IX (2016), Soundscape Exchange in Maccagno, Italy (2016) and Bar Harbor Brass Institute in Bar Harbor, Maine (2013).

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Dr. Ross is a multi-disciplinary artist.  Most recently she has performed as Acting Principal Trumpet for the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra from the 2019-2020, 2020-2021, and 2021-2022 seasons.  She also performed extensively while in her graduate studies at the University of Michigan, appearing as Principal Trumpet and ensemble member on several recent recordings of the University of Michigan Symphony Band, including Bolcom and Friends (2018), Reflections (2018), and Poetics (2016) through Soundset Records.  She is a featured soloist on Michael Daugherty’s Labyrinth of Love and Jim Stephenson’s The Storyteller alongside her teacher William Campbell and violinist Matt Albert.

 

In 2016 she received an EXCELerator fund grant to collaborate with Chicago based composer Corey Smith to create ALMANAC, a thirteen part performative work for trumpet and electronics.  The piece premiered at the University of Michigan’s Stamps Auditorium in April 2017, and has since been performed at Threads All Arts Festival in 2018 (Ypsilanti, MI) and during Smith’s residency 2019 as guest artist for the University of Michigan Composition and Living Arts program.

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S In May 2020 Amanda earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in Trumpet from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI) under the guidance of William Campbell, Robert Sullivan, Tom Booth, and Jason Bergman She earned her Bachelors in Trumpet with a Jazz Emphasis at Baldwin Wallace University (Berea, OH), a Masters in Trumpet and Masters in Chamber Music, and a Specialist in Trumpet at the University of Michigan. Her primary trumpet teachers are William Campbell, Robert Sullivan, Tom Booth, Jason Bergman, and John Brndiar.  Her chamber music education includes working with Matt Albert, Adam Unsworth, David Jackson, Fritz Kaenzig, William Campbell, Ken Heinlein, and Stephen Dumaine.