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Pamela Ross
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Actress/Pianist/Writer |
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In CARREÑO In goodbye, harry NEW! Pamela Ross offers unique and exciting classes Links Conductors
ON RECORDINGS: Connoisseur Society, 88 Carat Productions
Download MP3 files from two (2) of Pamela Ross' CDs: Hear some of Pamela Ross' MP3 files at Amazon.com Read more about Pamela Ross at http://www.pamelaross.com/articles/tgdlc/Pamela/Pamela.html Published articles and stories by Pamela Ross at http://www.pamelaross.com/articles/tgdlc/Pamela/Pamela.html ON TELEVISION: A&E Television Network
ON VIDEO:
Bookings/Performance Information 88 Carat Productions
To see more concert and and one-piano show excerpts on YouTube go to:
Visit Pamela Ross at the Baldwin Piano Artists' Site:
Pamela Ross' videos are available at Amazon.com: Pamela Ross' videos and CDs are available through:
Prices:
CDs: $12.99/each, plus shipping and handling To contact Pamela Ross by E-mail write to:Pross9@aol.com About Pamela RossPamela Ross combines the drama of great theatre and the passion of great music to create unique and memorable evenings of musical theatre. Her one-piano shows, "CARREÑO" and "goodbye, harry" have thrilled audiences in the U.S. and abroad. Pamela Ross was born in Louisiana and has roots in Spain and South America. She studied music at Juilliard and holds a B.A. degree from Queens College, NYC, where she was graduated Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude. Graduate studies were pursued at Yale University and at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she received a Master of Music degree. Miss Ross has taught at Yale University, Johns Hopkins University, and at Emory University. Recently, she returned from a triumphant tour of South America where she performed "CARREÑO" in Spanish at the prestigious Teatro Teresa Carreño in Caracas. When Pamela Ross isn't creating wonderfully crafted works for the stage, she is engaged as a recitalist, piano soloist and chamber music player. She has performed with some of the greatest conductors of our time including Arthur Fiedler, Jorge Mester, Murry Sidlin, and Gustav Meier. She is also a recording artist, with two Chopin albums, the Scherzi and the Ballades, and discs on the Connoisseur Society Label of piano music by Robert Schumann, and keyboard music by J.S. Bach. About "CARREÑO""CARREÑO" is based on the tempestuous life of the great turn-of-the-century Venezuelan pianist, Teresa . Known variously as "The Empress of the Keyboard" and "The Walküre of the Keyboard," Teresa Carreño earned a reputation based not only on staggering virtuosity, but on a wildly romantic lifestyle which included no less than four husbands (one of whom was the esteemed Scottish-born pianist Eugen d'Albert). Teresa Carreno held sway over romantic pianism for nearly 40 years and her life was peppered with great triumphs and tragic setbacks including the loss of a daughter whom she, as a teenage mother, was forced to put up for adoption early on in her career. Carreno's experiences as an international personality, along with her efforts to find love and reclaim her abandoned daughter, are the catalysts behind Pamela Ross' exceptionally entertaining evening of drama and music. Carreño"CARREÑO " was a runaway hit Off-Broadway in New York City, playing over 400 performances and receiving a coveted Outer Critics Circle Award nomination for "Outstanding Achievement." "CARREÑO" has been hailed "a unique tour de force" and continues to captivate audiences wherever it is performed.
"CARREÑO", recently filmed by Georgia-Pacific Television Productions, won an award in the US International Film/Video Festival in Illinois in April, 1998, and a US Telly Award in May,1998.
What the critics say:"MISS ROSS' ACTING IS LOW-KEY AND EARNEST ALLOWING FLASHES OF DEFIANCE AND FIERCE PRIDE... THE STORY SHE TELLS SUGGESTS AN ARTIST AS EXPANSIVE AND SELF-DRAMATIZING AS THE MUSIC SHE PLAYS WITH SUCH A FEROCIOUS VIVACITY." -THE NEW YORK TIMES "A UNIQUE TOUR-DE-FORCE!...THE SHOW IS FASCINATING AS HISTORY AND AS PERFORMANCE. ROSS PERFORMS A TWO-HOUR SOLO RECITAL WHILE ENACTING THE PART OF THE FEISTY, NAIVE, CLEVER AND DETERMINED 19TH CENTURY WOMAN. THIS IS AN UNUSUAL PERFORMANCE ON A DIFFICULT AND INTRIGUING SUBJECT...REMARKABLE! - NEW YORK NEWSDAY "MS. ROSS MAY WELL BE THE FIRST EXPONENT OF THE CLASSICAL MUSICAL BIOGRAPHICAL MONODRAMA." - THE NEW YORK TIMES "A DRAMA THAT'S MUSIC TO OUR EARS...A REFRESHING CHANGE OF PACE...PAMELA ROSS, WHO PLAYS CARREÑO, IS A FORMIDABLE PIANIST. THE EVENING SOARS...BRAVO! " - THE DAILY NEWS "CARREÑO IS A GENUINE TOUR-DE-FORCE IN WHICH MS. ROSS TACKLES ACTING, PIANO PLAYING, AND PERFORMING BOTH IN SPANISH AND IN ENGLISH. ROSS SPINS OUT THE FASCINATING AND OFTEN TRAGIC STORY OF CARRENO, INTERSPERSING HER MONOLOGUES WITH BRILLIANTLY EXECUTED INTERPRETATIONS OF CHOPIN, LISZT, BACH, MENDELSSOHN, AND OTHERS." - CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR "A FORTISSIMO PERFORMANCE BY ROSS GIVES LIFE TO ONE-WOMAN DRAMA OF PIANIST ' CARRENO'...A BRILLIANT PIANIST, AND TALENTED ACTRESS, ROSS SENDS HER AUDIENCES ALMOST INTO A MAGICAL TRANCE AS SHE PLAYS CHOPIN, MENDELSSOHN, LISZT, SCHUMANN, GRIEG, AND EVEN SCOTT JOPLIN." - NEWHOUSE SYNDICATE " CARRENO IS AS MUCH A CLASSICAL MUSIC RECITAL AS A THEATRE PIECE. ONE IS IMPRESSED BY A PERFORMER WHO PUTS THE PASSION APPARENT IN CARRENO'S CHARACTER INTO VIBRANT RENDITIONS OF THE WORKS OF THE GREAT MASTERS. ALL OF WHICH MEANS THAT THIS IS A SHOW THAT CAN BE RECOMMENDED EQUALLY TO THEATRE AND CLASSICAL MUSIC FANS." - NEW YORK CITY TRIBUNE "PAMELA ROSS IS BOTH AN ACTRESS AND AN IMPRESSIVE CONCERT PIANIST. HER PERFORMANCE IS SPIRITED, SAUCY, WITH FLASHES OF RUEFUL HUMOR AND INTIMATIONS OF LUST. ROSS PLAYS ENERGETICALLY , WITH FEELING, PRECISION, EVERY FILIGREE IN PLACE. TERESA CARREÑO EARNED THIS COMEBACK AND MORE !" - THE VILLAGE VOICE "DON'T MISS ' CARRENO'...MISS ROSS IS AS RIVETING IN HER DRAMATIC PRESENTATION OF THE WOMAN AS SHE IS STUNNING IN HER MUSICAL PERFORMANCE. THE PIANIST/ACTRESS HAS SPECTACULAR TECHNIQUE THAT RIVALS MANY OF THE WORLD'S FINEST MUSICIANS. THERE IS A SOLID DRAMATIC LINE TO THE PLAY, AND THERE ARE SOME ORIGINAL DIRECTORIAL TOUCHES. THIS LITTLE PLAY IS NOT TO BE MISSED! YOU WILL REMEMBER IT LONG AFTER MANY ANOTHER BIGGER PRODUCTION HAS FADED FROM MEMORY." - THE BERGEN NEWS "UNHESITATINGLY, GO! DRAMA AND A CONCERT ARE UNCANNILY COMBINED...WITH THE MUSICAL EXPERTISE OF PAMELA ROSS, THE EFFECT IS AS EXCITING AND ABSORBING AS THE ONRUSH OF MUSIC FILLING THE THEATRE. DON'T BE SURPRISED IF YOU RETURN WITH FRIENDS TO HEAR ROSS' SKILL INTERPRETING MENDELSSOHN, BACH, LISZT, GRIEG, MACDOWELL AND SCOTT JOPLIN'S RAGTIME. BRAVO!" - OUTER CRITICS CIRCLE "CARRENO IS BOTH AN ENGROSSING BIOGRAPHICAL DRAMA AND RIVETING TWO-HOUR CONCERT. ROSS IS BEAUTIFUL INSINUATING AND HOT BLOODED BY BIRTH AND DESIGN. THE WORD BRAVURA WOULD NOT BE AN OVERSTATEMENT FOR THIS SURPRISINGLY EDIFYING SPECIAL EVENT." - THE DAILY RECORD "SENSUOUS, SUPER-TALENTED PAMELA ROSS, A RENOWNED CONCERT PIANIST AND SUBSTANTIAL ACTRESS, IS VIRTUALLY SWELLING THE TINY INTAR THEATRE WITH THE POWERFUL SCOPE OF HER INTERPRETATIONS OF THE TEMPESTUOUS LIFE OF THE VENEZUELAN PIANIST TERESA CARREÑO. A ROUSING 'BRAVO' TO BOTH OF THESE FASCINATING LADIES. YOU MUST GO STRETCH YOUR SOUL WITH THE SOUND OF THEIR MAGNIFICENT MUSIC...REMARKABLE"' - SOUTH SHORE RECORD
My concept for a one-piano show started somewhere early in my life when my friends and family began calling me "Ham" instead of "Pam." From that time on it became my most fervent hope that I would never let anyone down. My Dad, Harry Ross, was really the original "Ham," the one from whom most of my material springs. The rest springs maternal: my mom, Elizabeth, kept us all in good spirits and good meals. "goodbye, harry" is my own, personal tribute to a most unusual man. Harry was a selftaught artist, a musician who loved not only the classics, but jazz and contemporary music as well, a dentist, a sports enthusiast, and a quick minded man who was blessed with a delicious sense of comedy. Harry savored every moment of his life, and then some. He left this world quickly and effortlessly, and with that same tongue-in-cheek humor: bending over the car, trying to fix a hubcap, his last words were "Doggone, the blasted thing is flat! Get me the tire pufferupper, would you?" And that was that. The rest I'm going to tell you about in the show, with the help of my piano and the blessings of my Mom. And as the ghosts of Chopin, Gershwin, Garner, Rachmaninoff and numerous distinguished others never objected to sharing the spotlight with me and Harry, they'll be there too. Enjoy!!
PRESS REVIEW Pamela Ross pays tribute to her father To paint the truest picture of her late father, classical pianist Pamela Ross surrounds herself with his paintings, his dental instruments and, of course, his music. In her one-woman play, "goodbye, harry," Ross invokes his spirit as well, "smashing' herself into the work with the same passion her father possessed. In giving herself to the music of Chopin and Rachmaninoff, Gershwin and Sondheim, she lifts the audience with a loving portrait of a rare man. She shared her memories Friday night to a full house in the Fulton's new fourth floor Studio Theatre, combining wry wit with a magnificent mix of music. Set in Harry Ross' New York apartment on summer evening, Ross invites the audience to experience the music she grew up with, the music her father loved. She deftly combines popular and classical pieces, blending boogiewoogie with Debussy, just as he did. The reminiscing is more autobiographical than a biography of Harry Ross, as she reveals how her father shaped her life. Although she may have eclipsed her father's talent technically while she was still a child by learning how to hit the right notes, she still reaches out for him in an attempt to embrace his passion. She repeats her father's adage like a mantra! "Better to play one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep." As king of the jungle, Ross roars. Her interpretations of Frederic Chopin and Sergei Rachmaninoff were simply stunning Friday night as she threw her whole body into the demanding pieces until the room reverberated. The performance was quite athletic as the intensity of the notes tensed then released each muscle in her slight frame. She simply couldn't sit still. Launching into the spirited "Kitten on the Keys" by Zez Confrey, Ross explained her enthusiasm by noting this was the first song she ever heard her father play. Her fierce playing was tempered with shimmering quietness as well. Most notably, she echoed her father's watercolor painting with her rendition of Debussy's "Clair de Lune." As she played, she painted the moon's reflection across water, clear and bright.
PRESS REVIEW Say 'hi' to invisible Theatre's 'goodbye, harry'
By CHUCK GRAHAM Have you ever wished somebody would come sit down in your living room and play piano? Even though you don't have a piano? Invisible Theatre is offering the next best thing with "goodbye, harry," a one-person evening of music and whimsy preformed by Pamela Ross. On stage is a baby grand piano, with stacks of music and packing boxes scattered here and there, a few paintings on the walls and a self-portrait of Harry Ross. The setup is that Pamela's father Harry, a retired dentist who loved to paint pictures and play piano, has passed away. Pamela is in his apartment, taking care of the last few details. She pauses to play Harry's piano one last time. And to tell mostly humorous stories about her father the dentist, who also had some innovative ideas about art and life. More than half the two-act show is music, with Pamela throwing herself into playing a mix of classical, Gershwin and jazz pieces. None of this is done with the hyper-art finesse of a big name symphony concert in Centennial Hall. Pamela is an accomplished concert pianist. She knows the pieces, and she plays them. All the classical excerpts will be familiar to everyone. Even if you hate classical music, you will know these tunes. Pamela's casually delivered comments between songs add to the intimacy of a pleasant evening. It's clear she isn't doing any acting when she talks about missing her father. Some prerecorded voice-overs representing Harry, done by K.H. Roberts, make this beloved father seem even a bit more real. Though Harry hated to travel, Pamela makes him sound the sort who would brighten any long, boring airplane ride. It is a colorful portrait enhanced by the music. Sample "CARREÑO" performances on the road: University of California/San Diego, La Jolla,Chico, CA College of Saint Elizabeth, Morristown, New Jersey Complejo Teresa Carreno,Caracas, Venezuela (extended run) Munson-Proctor-Williams Institute,Utica,NY Societe Pro Arte Grateli, Dade Cty. Aud.,Miami Regis College, Boston, MA. Louisiana Arts Council,West Monroe, LA. Coconut Grove Playhouse, Miami, FL, 3 month run (112 performances) Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Ga. Fulton Opera House, Lancaster, Pa., extended run Reston Community Center Theatre, Reston, Va. Invisible Theatre Company, Tucson, AZ, extended run in Spanish and in English, presented at the Temple of Music and Art, home of the Arizona Theatre Company Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland University of Georgia, Athens, Ga. Nazareth Arts Center, Rochester, NY
"goodbye,harry" sample performances: "Broadway at the Surf", Miami Beach, FL, 8 week run (64 performances). "Off Broadway", Fort Lauderdale, FL, 8 week run (64 performances) Fulton Opera House Studio Theatre, Lancaster, PA,extended run Invisible Theatre Co., AZ, 5 weeks,40 performances Jewish Theatre of New England, Boston, MA Florida Studio Theatre Cabaret Theatre |
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NEW! PAMELA ROSS OFFERS UNIQUE AND EXCITING CLASSES
CREATIVE MUSICIANSHIP
CLASSES FOR ALL AGES AND BACKGROUNDS
When Pamela Ross isn't creating wonderfully crafted works for the stage, she is engaged as a recitalist, piano soloist and chamber music player. She has performed with some of the greatest conductors of our time including Arthur Fiedler, Jorge Mester, Murry Sidlin, and Gustav Meier. She is also a recording artist, with two Chopin albums, the Scherzi and the Ballades, and discs on the Connoisseur Society Label of piano music by Robert Schumann, and keyboard music by J.S. Bach. Arthur Fiedler - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaKennedy Center: Biographical information for Murry Sidlin Pamela Ross performing Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #2 with Arthur Fiedler:
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