 Media Release |
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For immediate release Theatre veteran George Ross to retire After 25 years at The Banff Centre, and a lifetime of involvement in the arts, George Ross, Associate Director of Operations for Theatre Arts, will retire on January 17th, 2004. A native of Courtenay, British Columbia, Ross received a Bachelor of Music and Masters of Music in Opera Production from the University of British Columbia, where he performed, conducted and directed over 70 scenes and full productions of opera. His great love for opera took him into the world of stage management and direction for the Vancouver Opera Association, Edmonton Opera, Manitoba Opera, and the Southern Alberta Opera (now Calgary Opera). It was as a performer in musical theatre, in 1972, that Ross first ventured into what was then known as The Banff School of Fine Arts. He returned the following year and, for several summers thereafter stage managed Festival operas, including The Magic Flute, Don Pasquale, La Cenerentola, and The Marriage of Figaro. Having fallen in love with the arts in the mountains, Ross and his family decided to make Banff home and entered a new world of arts administration, managing operations for the Centre’s Performing Arts, Theatre and Literary Arts, and Theatre Arts departments. George Ross contributed greatly to The Banff Centre over many years. He is known, admired, and loved, not only in Banff but across the country, for his enthusiasm for the theatrical and musical arts. His boundless energy and desire to be of help to everyone — and his passion for all things operatic — often found him stepping outside his office duties to assist onstage: anything from loading in equipment and sets to arranging or dressing the stage, from handing out programs to selling tickets. What Banff child will ever forget his energetic leading of Christmas Carols to an appreciative audience of over 900 children and parents at the Banff Community Christmas Concert in the Eric Harvie Theatre? George's robust tenor voice has often been heard in corridors and offices, and, just last summer, George returned to the stage, lending his talents to the Banff Summer Arts Festival production of the new Canadian opera Filumena.
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