Gertrude Ross

[4][5][6] After returning to the U.S., Ross toured with and accompanied singers such as Katherine Fisk, Blanche Hamilton Fox, Jeanne Gerville-Reache, Ernestine Schumann-Heink, and Regina Vicarino, as well as cellist Elsa Ruegger and vioinist Ignaz Heroldi.

In 1923, she composed new music for the outdoor performance The Pilgrimage Play: The Life of Christ by Christine Wetherill, incorporating Hebrew chants, scales, and instruments like the shofar.

[4] She helped raise money to build the Hollywood Bowl and gave public lectures about the music played on its summer concert series.

[9] In 1928, she chaired the National Federation of Music Clubs American Composers group, as well as the Hollywood Bowl Annual Composition Prize Committee.

[10][6] In her role as president of the Los Angeles Pro Musica chapter, she helped sponsor early performances of Arnold Schoenberg’s music.

Gertrude Ross in 1924
1915 photograph of Gertrude Ross playing the piano with the soprano Yvonne de Tréville listening.
On a platform in a field, against a hillside, one woman plays a piano while a woman singer stands nearby
Gertrude Ross and Anna Ruzena Sprotte performing on a barn door in the first known musical event at the Hollywood Bowl, ca.1920 (CHS-14567)