STAGE DIRECTOR AND OPERA LIBRETTIST
Biography
Buck Ross is professor emeritus at the University of Houston where he founded and directed Moores Opera Center for 37 years. Under him the program grew to be one of the largest university opera production programs in the country, producing four main stage operas annually. In addition to the standard repertoire, the Center became known as the leading university producer of contemporary operas, frequently being asked by composers to produce their operas immediately after their professional premieres. Recent contemporary works have included The Inspector by John Musto, Anna Karenina by David Carlson, Frau Margot by Thomas Pasatieri, Amelia by Daron Hagen, Elmer Gantry by Robert Aldridge, The Grapes of Wrath by Ricky Ian Gordon, Flight by Jonathan Dove, A Wedding by William Bolcom, Casanova’s Homecoming and Miss Havisham’s Fire, both by Dominick Argento; and The Ghosts of Versailles by John Corigliano. In addition, the Center recently completed their Daniel Catán Project in which all of Mr. Catán’s operas—Florencia en el Amazonas, Il Postino, Salsipuedes, and Rappaccini’s Daughter—were produced in the space of eight years. Mr. Ross has directed for many regional opera companies as well including Nevada Opera, Kentucky Opera, El Paso Opera, Utah Opera, Sacramento Opera, and Sarasota Opera. He recently completed the libretto for a new opera Housewives of Horror with composer Robert Nelson. Their other works include the opera The School for Scandal and an operatic adaptation of E.M. Forster’s A Room with a View. In addition they created a song cycle, Shadows and Music, about silent film stars Lillian and Dorothy Gish. Both Shadows and Music and A Room with a View are available on commercial recordings. He is also the author of several singing translations of operas. His version of Orpheus in the Underworld has been performed most frequently nationwide. Known as an acting teacher for singers, he presents master classes annually throughout the nation and for many years directed the apprentice program for the Des Moines Metro Opera and was director of dramatic studies for the Houston Grand Opera Studio. He has taught in various study-abroad programs, especially in Italy.
