Two world-class masters of the acoustic guitar – Don Ross – with special guest Jule Malischke – will dazzle patrons of The Carleton on Sunday, August 18th. Show time is 7:00 PM and tickets are $30 + HST. After joining Don on his European tour this spring and summer, Jule will be on the east coast in August in order to mix and master her new album. This is another rare opportunity in Don’s ad hoc series, inviting musician friends from around the world to share the stage at The Carleton.
Don Ross was born and raised in Montreal and has lived in various parts of Canada over the course of his life. The son of a Mi’kmaw Indigenous mother and a Scottish immigrant father, he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Music) degree from Toronto’s York University and started working full-time as a musician in 1988. That year he won the US National Fingerpick Guitar Championship for the first time, and also played with his quartet Eye Music at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.
Signing a recording contract with Duke Street Records that same year, he went on to release two CDs of solo guitar music, as well as a third featuring vocal music, full band arrangements, and solo guitar tunes. Concentrating his touring primarily in Canada at the start of his career, Don went on to sign with Sony Music/Columbia Records (Canada) in 1994, releasing three CDs for the label. US-based Narada Records also licensed two pieces for the Masters of Acoustic Guitar CD and in 1998 became Don’s label for three more CDs, including Passion Session, one of the high water marks in the world of modern solo guitar. Meanwhile, Don won the US National Fingerpick Guitar Championship for the second time in 1996. To this day, he is still the competition’s only two-time winner. Don began touring more internationally at this point in his career, concentrating especially on Germany and other central European countries, eventually adding Japan, Taiwan, and the USA. In 2005, he became the first signed artist for internet-based label CandyRat Records, releasing multiple CDs for the label and extending his international touring even further.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Don went back to university, completing a Master of Arts degree in Orchestration through the University of Chichester (UK) and ThinkSpace Education, and graduating in early 2021. He immediately started working extensively in the world of scoring orchestral and electronic music for video games, films and television.
In addition to his solo performances and recordings, Don also heads his quartet Don Ross Louder Than Usual, which focusses on his more jazz-leaning repertoire. In 2021, Don won the prestigious Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts, administered by the Canada Council for the Arts. Don currently lives in Charlottetown, PEI.
Jule Malischke is a guitarist, singer, songwriter, lecturer at the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music in Dresden, Germany, as well as organizer and artistic director of the Giengen Guitar Festival. With her music and concerts, she wants to create moments that conjure up true encounters and poignant experiences and memories, She hopes to give listeners moments of pause, of consciously escaping the hustle and bustle of everyday life. The greatest gift after a concert is when someone grabs their heart and says “that touched me”!