James Ross Mensch002

James Ross is a guitarist and composer living in Brooklyn, N.Y. Originally from Pittsburgh, Pa., he has studied guitar at the University of Pittsburgh and the Mannes College of Music in New York City. He has studied sitar with Pandit Krishna Bhatt, and North Indian classical music and composition with La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela.
A composer in a variety of genres, James has written music for orchestral and chamber ensembles, as well as solo music for the guitar and the zhongruan (a type of Chinese lute). He has also performed and recorded electronic and improvised music.

Recent performances as a composer and performer on the electric guitar, laptop and other instruments include sets at The Bell House; at the Small Beast at The Delancey with percussionist Joseph Benzola; a performance with Kyle Bobby Dunn at Issue Project Room; at Pianos with Richard Lainhart; at Glasslands Gallery with Michael Vincent Waller; at Goodbye Blue Monday with David Beardsley; providing live music for Katherine Liberovskaya and Ursula Scherrer’s OptoSonic Tea series at Diapason Gallery in Brooklyn; with video artist Alex Carpenter at The Tank in Manhattan; and at Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center as part of the guitar ensemble for Rhys Chatham’s “A Crimson Grail.” A recording of the "Crimson Grail" performance was released on Nonesuch Records on Sept. 14, 2010.

As a classical guitarist, James has performed as a soloist and ensemble player throughout the Northeastern United States. He received a Solo Recitalist Fellowship in 1992 from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and won the 1993 Mannes College of Music Concerto Competition, resulting in a performance of Joaquin Rodrigo’s “Fantasia para Gentilhombre,” at Symphony Space in New York City.