Ross Lyness
Ross Lyness is a professional musician, educator and facilitator. Following ten years of living and working in London and Barcelona, Ross moved home to County Down in 2010 where he now lives with his violinist wife and their two daughters. With a primary degree in Law and a Masters in Trombone Performance from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Ross has refined and channelled his diverse interests and strengths into a multi-faceted career combining professional performance at international level with holding key managerial roles within a variety of arts organisations, whilst continuing to teach and coach the next generation.
Ross was appointed the inaugural Head of Junior RIAM in 2020. He successfully led the Junior department through turbulent times brought about by the global pandemic and the transition to the new RIAM campus. During his tenure, Ross oversaw the development and implementation of several new aspects of the curriculum and wider programmes, including the flagship Young Artist Programme, which led to Junior RIAM being invited to join Young Music Talents Europe (YMTE), of which he has recently been elected to the Management Board. He has also led the department in promoting diversity, access, equality and inclusion across all areas.
As a freelance trombonist, Ross performs across a wide variety of genres including solo and chamber music, contemporary and new music, jazz and big band, orchestral, opera and commercial work for television and radio. As a soloist, he has recorded for the BBC and, in 2022, premiered a new trombone sonata by jazz pianist Ethan Iverson. Ross travels to work joining the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Ballet, Orchesta Nazionale della RAI, Turin, Orquesta de Grand Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, Hong Kong Sinfonietta and the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, which Ross visits several times a year as Guest Principal Trombone.
Ross also appears with all of the professional orchestras in Ireland and has held the position of Principal Trombone with Wexford Opera Festival Orchestra since 2013 and Irish National Opera since 2019. He has also toured extensively with Irish orchestras, such as Camerata Ireland and the Irish Chamber Orchestra, including trips to South America, India, China, Europe and the USA. A keen chamber musician, Ross performs regularly with brass quintets and other ensembles. Ross is also a member of the Belfast Ensemble, a dynamic group pushing the boundaries of collaboration between music, theatre, art and dance. In August 2018, Ross was invited to join the European Brass Collective, an international ensemble of musicians, resident at the annual Brucknertage in Sankt Florian, Austria. Other chamber highlights include performances of Stravinsky’s ‘A Soldier’s Tale’ in the MAC Belfast and the Kilkenny Arts Festival with the Fews Ensemble, featuring Irish actor Ciaran Hinds as the narrator/devil.
As a teacher and coach, Ross draws on his own extensive performing experience and knowledge of the industry. Mentors have included his own teachers Eric Crees, Simon Wills and John Kenny at the Guildhall and David Rejano Cantero in Barcelona, as well as more oblique influences like Jesper Busk-Sørensen of the Berlin Philharmonic and breathing guru and international pedagogue, Kristian Steenstrup. Their combined teachings and perspectives have resulted in Ross taking an international and well-rounded approach to musical education.
Alongside his teaching at RIAM, Ross has recently been invited to give masterclasses in the USA and Spain and has worked as a low brass coach with the National Youth Orchestras of Ireland and the Cyprus Youth Orchestra.