For immediate release:
April 27, 2023
Contact: Julie Goetz, Director of Communications
(412) 905-9058
jgoetz@pittsburghsymphony.org
PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENT OF TWO ADDITIONAL PAUL. J. ROSS FELLOWS TO BEGIN IN SEPTEMBER 2023
PITTSBURGH—The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s president and CEO Melia Tourangeau announced today that two musicians have won auditions for the Orchestra’s prestigious Paul J. Ross Fellowship program and will join the Orchestra as Ross Fellows in September 2023 for a two-year fellowship.
The new Paul J. Ross Fellows that will begin next season are Joshua Samuel Carr, trumpet, and Drew Collins, bass. The addition of these two new musicians brings to three the total of Ross Fellows for the 2023-2024 season, as Cooper Cromwell-Whitley, trombone, the current Ross Fellow, continues his fellowship from this season through next season.
“The Pittsburgh Symphony values diverse perspectives and contributions in the creation and presentation of music that we share with our community and are proud of the now 15-year commitment to a fellowship program that supports and develops the growth of young Black musicians who are dedicated to pursuing an orchestral career,” said Melia Tourangeau, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. “We are delighted to welcome to Pittsburgh Joshua Samuel Carr and Drew Collins, two compelling young musicians with very bright futures.”
The Paul J. Ross Fellowship program is a two-year program designed to enable musicians identifying as Black or African American to dedicate themselves to the pursuit of an orchestral career. Fellows work closely alongside members of the Pittsburgh Symphony to train and prepare for professional auditions and opportunities with substantial financial and professional development support, and robust mentorship in a welcoming and inclusive environment. The fellowship program was begun in the 2007-2008 season (then under a different name), to promote diversity in orchestra settings to better reflect the diverse communities and audiences the orchestra serves. In 2021, the fellowship program received transformative new funding to secure the program’s expansion (from one Fellow to up to four Fellows in each season by 2025) and substantive changes in the fellowship experience.
About the new Ross Fellows:
Joshua Samuel Carr, trumpet, is a member of the Capital Wind Symphony in Washington, DC, and has been working with the Lancaster and Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestras. He holds a Master of Music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a Bachelor of Music from Towson University. While studying at Towson University, Carr won several solo competitions and department awards. He has been part of various unique projects, from touring the region's historic theaters with the Peacherine Ragtime Orchestra accompanying the silent films of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, to opening for the band Reel Big Fish. In San Francisco, Joshua Samuel Carr performed with several orchestras including the Symphony Parnassus, the San Francisco Academy Orchestra, and the Awesöme Orchestra. In collaboration with Undercover Presents, he performed a tribute to A Tribe Called Quest’s “Midnight Marauders” as part of the Awesöme Orchestra Collective.
Drew Collins, bass, is currently finishing the first year of his Masters in Double Bass Performance at Carnegie Mellon University, studying under Micah Howard. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and reared in Columbus, Ohio, Collins began playing double bass in fourth grade in elementary school. By the sixth grade, he also joined the Columbus Symphony Youth Orchestra and by eighth grade, the Urban Strings Columbus Youth Orchestra until he finished high school. Drew Collins spent a summer abroad and multiple summers at Interlochen Center for the Arts. He attended the Cleveland Institute of Music for his undergraduate education, studying under Derek Zadinsky. Drew Collins is a passionate electric bass player as well, collaborating with many different musicians. He has worked in free improv, jazz, funk, gospel, and psychedelic rock.
About the Paul J. Ross Felllowship Program
The Paul J. Ross Fellowship is named in honor of the late Paul J. Ross, violinist who, in 1965, was the first Black musician to receive a full-time contract from the Pittsburgh Symphony, and beloved in Pittsburgh for nurturing, mentoring and supporting young through his joy of music.
The application for the next auditions for the Paul J. Ross Fellowship Program is expected to open in December 2023. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is a partner orchestra of the National Alliance for Audition Support—an unprecedented national initiative of The Sphinx Organization, New World Symphony and the League of American orchestras to increase diversity in American orchestras. Prior Fellows at the Pittsburgh Symphony orchestra have experienced substantial career advancement as a result of the fellowship.
With gratitude:
The Paul J. Ross Fellowship is made possible, in part, thanks to generous funding from the PA Department of Education with support from State Senator Camera Bartolotta; the Arts, Equity, & Education Fund; Hans & Leslie Fleischner; and the National Endowment for the Arts. Pittsburgh Symphony is grateful to EQT Foundation and FedEx Ground for their generous support of the Paul J. Ross Fellowship.
About Paul J. Ross
The late Paul J. Ross was the first African American musician to be awarded a full-time contract with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, in 1965. Ross began playing the violin at age 11; at Westinghouse High School in Pittsburgh, he was a member of a string quartet that took top honors in a statewide competition. Ross earned both his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from Carnegie Mellon University and was one of the original members of the Pittsburgh Quartet.
Since 2005, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra has awarded the Paul Ross award to recognize people in the Pittsburgh community who give back to the community, especially with youth and in music education. A former conductor of the Three Rivers Symphonette and Artistic Director of Project STEP, Ross dedicated much of his time advocating the importance of youth music education in public schools. His wife, former Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra cellist Charlotta Klein Ross, established a fund in his memory at The Pittsburgh Foundation (read more about the Rosses here) to help children whose families are unable to afford extra classes and musical training.
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