About
Ross Venneberg is the Director of Bands and Brass at Western Colorado University. His responsibilities including directing the Symphonic Band, Jazz Band, Pep Band, Brass Ensemble, and teaching brass lessons, brass methods, and conducting.
Prior to his appointment at WCU, he was an Indianapolis-based trumpeter, conductor, and educator. He continues to serve as Principal Trumpet of the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, Second Trumpet of the Terre Haute Symphony, and a member of the Indiana State University Faculty Brass Quintet. He was also the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Shelby Community Band and Assistant Conductor of the Circle City Orchestra. He served as Director of Instrumental Activities and Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at Franklin College for three years, where he conducted the Wind Ensemble and Athletic Band, and taught brass lessons, brass methods and pedagogy, conducting and score preparation, survey of orchestra and band literature, instrumental performance seminar, introduction to music, and a course he designed examining the relationship between music and sports.
As a trumpeter, Ross has performed with the Indianapolis Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra (London), Carmel Symphony, Anderson Symphony, Lake Washington Symphony, Symphony Napa Valley, Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra, St. James Cathedral Brass (Seattle), Seattle Chamber Brass, and The Bay Brass. He serves as a recording artist in Indianapolis for commerical music projects and music publishing companies such as Alfred Music, Carl Fischer Music, and Randall Standridge Music, among others. His other recording credits include CDs with the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, Chanticleer, and the National Christian Choir, a promotional Pepsi video for Super Bowl XLVIII, and an appearance on the TV show Madam Secretary.
During the summers, he has performed at the Aspen Music Festival, Marrowstone Music Festival, Miami Music Festival, and Spoleto Festival USA. He has toured with orchestras in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Slovakia in concert halls such as the Musikverein (Vienna), the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), the Philharmonie Berlin, Smetana Hall (Prague), Kurhaus Wiesbaden, and the Philharmonie am Gasteig (Munich). He has been fortunate to play under renowned conductors Jun Märkl, Ludovic Morlot, Sir Simon Rattle, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Robert Spano, and Michael Tilson Thomas.
Ross has been a featured soloist with the University of California Berkeley Symphony, UW-Milwaukee Youth Wind Ensemble, Seattle Collaborative Orchestra, the Sitka Fine Arts Camp Orchestra, and at the College Music Society Conference at the University of Indianapolis. He has collaborated with the organists of the New York Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony in solo performances at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine (NYC) and St. Ignatius Church (SF). He has performed chamber music at the Seattle Opera Gala, Chamber Music Milwaukee, and with members of the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and San Francisco Symphony.
As a conductor, Ross previously served as a graduate teaching assistant at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the University of Washington. He founded and directed the University of Washington Brass, which presented annual Holiday Brass concerts and was invited to perform at the 2018 and 2019 Northwest Brass Festival. He also served as a co-director of the UW Campus Band and conducted the Chamber Winds on tour in China. At UW-Milwaukee, Ross served as co-conductor of the University Band, assistant conductor of the Wind Ensemble and Symphony Band, and assistant director of the Panther Basketball Band. Ross has guest conducted the University of Washington Wind Ensemble, Crossroads Brass Band, Shelby All-County High School Honor Band, the Northwest Brass Festival Ensemble, and the Sitka Brass Ensemble, an ensemble featuring top brass musicians from around the country.
An advocate for education and outreach, Ross served as the brass/trumpet instructor at Westfield High School, Pendleton Heights Middle and High School, Waldron Junior-Senior High School, and Triton Central Middle School. He has also held teaching positions at Milwaukee High School of the Arts, UW-Milwaukee Youth Wind Ensemble, Manhattan School of Music Arts-in-Education and Distance Learning programs, and the Sitka Fine Arts Camp. He is a certified adjudicator for the Indiana State School Music Association and has also served as a judge for events at the Alaska State Solo & Ensemble Music Festival and the University of Indianapolis. Ross has been a guest for master classes, lectures, and/or recitals at the University of Washington, Pacific Lutheran University, Seattle University, Saint Martin's University, Presbyterian College, Western Colorado University, Franklin College, Saint Mary's College, Truman State University, Valdosta State University, and in China at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music and Tsinghua University.
Born and raised in Sitka, Alaska, Ross earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, from Saint Mary's College of California, Master of Music degrees from Manhattan School of Music (trumpet) and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (conducting), and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Washington. His dissertation detailed the pedagogical philosophies of renowned trumpeter Mark Gould and its findings are featured in the International Trumpet Guild Journal (October 2021) and in the book Gould on Music: Playing, Studying, Teaching, and Preparing for the Future. His former teachers and mentors include John Climer, Kevin Hartman, David Gordon, Timothy Salzman, Mark Gould, Adam Luftman, and Roger Schmidt.
