Eric Gross

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Eric Gross AM (born Vienna, 1926) is an Austrian-Australian pianist and composer.

From the age of fourteen, Gross worked as a pianist in bands and orchestras. He studied at Trinity College of Music, and the University of Aberdeen. He had a very successful career as a pianist, including working as a BBC studio accompanist. Following professional engagements in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and New Caledonia, he settled in Sydney in 1958.

Initially teaching at the Sydney Conservatorium, he joined the staff of the Department of Music at the University of Sydney in 1960 and remained there until retiring in 1991 as Associate Professor of Music. In 1989 he was visiting Professor at the University of Guyana. A Past President of the Fellowship of Australian Composers, he was also Treasurer and Executive Board Member of the Asian Composers' League from 1981 until 1994. Apart from teaching, Gross was active as composer, arranger and conductor. He has received numerous commissions for film scores for Film Australia and TV scores for Screen Gems Columbia, as well as numerous commissions from the ABC. In 1976 he received the Albert H. Maggs Composition Award from Melbourne University.

While working as a conductor of the Pro Musica Society of Sydney University and the St. Andrew's Cathedral Choral Society, Gross wrote numerous works for the orchestras and choirs associated with these societies. Political statements were made in the orchestral work Na Shledanou v Praze (premiered in Olomouc, Czechoslovakia during a period of Russian occupation) which used the Czech National Anthem as its main theme. In other works, such as the cantata Pacem in Terris, Gross used pertinent philosophical or political texts. He is also well known for Dussekiana, an orchestral suite based on piano works by Jan Dussek.

In addition to a predilection for jazz idioms, Gross's world-wide travels and cultural experiences tend to give his music a cosmopolitan flavour, with traces of Austrian, Scottish, Asian and South American influences emerging from time to time. He also enjoys experimentation, especially when a sympathetic virtuoso or ensemble such as bass baritone Alan Light, trombonist Greg van der Struik or the Sydney Mandolins, is available.

In 1998 Gross was made a Member of the Order of Australia and on Australia Day 2006 he was declared to be the City of Canada Bay Cultural and Artistic Citizen of the Year. He remains active as a composer and examiner.