OSM Founder - Dr. Allen Robert Gross
The late ALLEN ROBERT GROSS founded Orchestra Santa Monica in 2012 and led the orchestra through his retirement at the end of the 2017-18 season. He was lauded worldwide for his imaginative and probing interpretations of the standard and contemporary orchestral and chamber orchestra repertoires. His international conducting appearances took him throughout Europe, including concerts in international festivals in Italy, Spain, Poland and the Czech Republic. Guest invitations also took him to China and Cuba, where he conducted the Orquesta Sinfónica de Matanzas as part of the international Festival of Contemporary Music in that country. During his twenty-one year tenure as Music Director and Conductor of the Santa Monica Symphony, Gross established that orchestra as one of the leading community orchestras in the country. Gross was also Professor of Music Emeritus at Occidental College, and a member of the music faculty at the California Institute of Technology, where he conducted The Caltech Symphony.
