Steven Gross
French Horn
Steven Gross is Professor of Horn and Head of the Wind, Brass and Percussion Area at the beachside campus of the University of California – Santa Barbara. He is also a former member of the Atlanta Symphony, National Symphony, Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, and for 24 years Principal Horn of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. At the age of 21, he won the First International Heldenleben Horn Competition. He is now Executive Director of the International Horn Competition of America, which has had winners from the Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Hungarian State Opera orchestra, Barcelona Symphony, Empire Brass, St. Louis Symphony and other institutions.
International solo appearances include the Orchester der Stadt Vöcklabruck in Austria, Moscow Conservatory, Beijing Central Conservatory, L’Abri International Arts Festival is Switzerland, Nairobi Symphony in Kenya, NTUA Wind Ensemble in Taiwan, WindWorx in South Africa, and the Camerata Filarmonica Bohemia of Prague. His Carnegie Hall debut was described by the New York Concert Review as, “offering some of the cleanest articulation and purest musicality.”
Steven Gross has released 6 solo CDs, comprising 5 with orchestra accompaniment and 1 with piano and organ. Gramophone Magazine praised his playing for its “subtle flair and vibrant character,” as well as its “suave and poetic conversation.” Reviews from the American Record Guide describe his playing as “outstanding, striking the right balance between thoughtfulness and verve, planning and spontaneity…an excellent tone and the ability and temperament to play heroically.” Horn Call magazine states that he “plays technically flawlessly and highly expressively throughout…Highly recommended.”
Dr. Gross soloed with orchestra at the 2015 IHS Symposium in Los Angeles, performing the Telemann Concerto for Three Horns with Jim Thatcher and Dale Clevenger. During the same concert, he also played the U.S. premiere of the Jiří Havlík Concerto for Horn, with Clevenger conducting.
He has been in residence twice at the Beijing Central Conservatory and was Visiting Professor at the National University of Arts in Taiwan. In addition, Gross has been a featured clinician for the South African Horn Society.
European masterclasses include the Moscow Conservatory, Royal Academy of Music in London, St. Petersburg Conservatory, and in Austria. Swiss masterclasses include those in Zurich, Basel, Lucerne, and Winterthur. Dr. Gross has been a featured artist at Hornclass and the Ameropa International Chamber Music Festivals in the Czech Republic. In South Africa, he was clinician at the Stellenbosch Conservatory and the University of Cape Town. He was a faculty artist in China at the First International Music Festival at SIAS University, as well as guest Principal Horn with the Hunan Symphony. Dr. Gross was artist faculty twice at the Crescendo Summer Institute in Hungary.
In the U.S., he has presented concerts and masterclasses at the Eastman School, Peabody, Lynn and Oberlin Conservatories; Indiana, Southern Methodist, Florida State, Michigan State, Baylor, Temple, Penn State, Ohio State, Minnesota; the universities of Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Washington, Miami, Texas, Nebraska, and Oregon; plus USC, UCLA, UNLV, his alma mater the University of Michigan, and other venues.
Dr. Gross was awarded the Stich-Punto Commemorative Plaque from the Czech Horn Society for outstanding devotion to Czech horn music. He is only the second American to receive this award.
His summers include performing as Principal Horn of the Oregon Coast Music Festival Orchestra.
Steven Gross considers his family his greatest pride and joy—his wife Julie and his children, Mike and wife Lily, as well as Katie.
