Matthew Ross - Concertmaster

Matthew Ross has been Concertmaster of the Vector Wellington Orchestra since 2002.

Matthew studied violin at Canterbury University (New Zealand), the Rotterdam Conservatorium (Netherlands) and the Royal College of Music in Stockholm (Sweden), with teachers including Jan Tawroszewicz and Karl-Ove Mannberg.

As Concertmaster of the Vector Wellington Orchestra, Matthew Ross has performed many of the major violin solos including Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, Coppelia, Madame Butterfly, Capriccio Espagnol, Capriccio Italien, Danse Macabre, Scheherezade as well as concerto works including Saint Saens Introduction & Rondo Capriccioso. In 2005 he was soloist in Vivaldi's Four Seasons and toured this work again in 2007.

Matthew Ross played with the Jeunesses Musicales World Youth Orchestra from 1993 to 1995, and has performed in many of the major concert halls in Europe including in Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Liege, Vienna, Zurich, Oslo and Stockholm. Matthew Ross joined the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra as a first violinist, aged 24, where he played for 9 years.

Matthew plays on an Italian violin by Stefano Scarampella, previously played by a colleague in the NZSO for almost 50 years.

Matthew Ross has conducted the Vector Wellington Orchestra on a number of occasions, including for the North American DVD entitled "Live from New Zealand" for Hayley Westenra and a season of the Disney musical Beauty and the Beast. He is an alumni of the Symphony Australia Conductor Development Programme and has participated in conducting masterclasses in Vienna, Stockholm and Moscow.

In 2012, he will conduct Gilbert & Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance in Wellington, Palmerston North, Wanganui and Kapiti in August & September.