Biography
Buck Ross is the Edythe Bates Old Professor of Opera and the founder and director of the Moores Opera Center at the University of Houston. Under him the program has grown 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 has become 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 he wrote the libretto for Robert Nelson’s opera The School for Scandal that had its premiere in 2018. His other librettos for Nelson include an operatic adaptation of E.M. Forster’s A Room with a View and a song cycle, Shadows and Music, about silent film stars Lillian and Dorothy Gish. Both 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.
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