British-American choir director and organist.

Hugh Ross was born on August 21, 1898 in Langport (England). He enrolled at the Royal College of Music in London in 1915 and attended New College at Oxford between 1918 and 1921. Vaughan Williams taught him composition, and he learnt conducting from Willem Mengelberg.

Ross's directing career began in London and Oxford, with a repertoire of orchestral and operatic music. He travelled to Canada and was named director of the Winnipeg Male Voice Choir, as well as organist and choirmaster at Holy Trinity Church. He also founded the Winnipeg Philharmonic Choir and the Winnipeg Orchestra. In 1927, he moved to the United States to direct the Schola Cantorum of New York, the principal choir of the New York Philharmonic, a post he held until 1971. In that capacity, on April 27, 1940 he invited Manuel de Falla to premiere his "Atlántida" (1927-1946) at the New York World's Fair.

In 1933 Ross became a teacher at the Manhattan School of Music, and from 1941 to 1962 he directed the choir of the Berkshire Music Center. Advised by Edward Barret, he participated in the 1950 Tanglewood Festival with this choir and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He was a member of the jury for the

Concurso Internacional de Canto and took part in the X Cursos Internacionales de Interpretación Musical Francisco Viñas, both held in Barcelona from October 16 to 23, 1980. He passed away on January 20, 1990 in New York.