STEVEN GROSS is Professor Emeritus of Horn at 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.

Dr. Gross has released five solo CDs with orchestra and one 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.” 

International solo appearances include the Orchester der Stadt Vöcklabruck in Austria, Moscow Conservatory, Beijing Central Conservatory, L’Abri International Arts Festival in Switzerland, Nairobi Symphony in Kenya, WindWorx in South Africa, NTUA Wind Ensemble in Taiwan, and the Camerata Filarmonia 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 given numerous international masterclasses, including two residencies at the Beijing Central Conservatory. 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 Festival in the Czech Republic. In South Africa, he presented masterclasses at Stellenbosch Conservatory and the University of Cape Town. Dr. Gross was a clinician at the First International Music Festival at SIAS University, and was guest Principal horn with the Hunan Symphony.

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, Florida State; the universities of Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Washington, Miami, Texas, Alabama, Nebraska, and Oregon; plus USC, UCLA, UNLV, his alma mater the University of Michigan, and other venues.

Dr. Gross commissioned eminent American composer William Bolcom to compose a Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano, completed in 2017. It received performances at the Royal Conservatory of Ghent, St. Petersburg Conservatory in Russia, and the Crescendo Institute in Hungary.  The New York Times online states, “simultaneously lyrical and potent quality…lets the instrument strut.”

Summers include performing as Principal Horn of the Oregon Coast Music Festival Orchestra, as Horn faculty at the Crescendo Summer Institute in Tokaj, Hungary, in addition to Hornclass and the Ameropa Chamber Music Institute in Prague.  He is currently Principal Horn of the Channel Islands Chamber Orchestra.

In 2008, Steven 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.

At the age of 21, Steven Gross won the First International Heldenleben Horn Competition. He is now Executive Director Emeritus of the International Horn Competition of America, North America’s leading solo event for horn.