Artistic Leadership
Cal Stewart Kellogg
Music Director Emeritus
Maestro Kellogg was named Music Director of the West Valley Symphony in April 2009 and quickly became an audience favorite.
At the start of the 2023-24 Season, he announced his retirement. He continues to serve and support the WVS as Music Director Emeritus.
Nicholas Ross
Associate Conductor
Nicholas Ross has extensive experience as a conductor, violinist, and educator. With a clear passion and focus on opera and musical theater, Nicholas Ross served as an Associate Conductor with the New York City Opera Company from 2007-2008 and was an Assistant Conductor with the Glimmerglass Opera Company for three seasons from 2005-2007.
In 2010, Ross conducted a production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd with John Jay and Ohio Wesleyan Colleges in New
York City. This collaboration dates to 2007, when Ross served as Music Director and Conductor for a 50th anniversary production of Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story. Additional operatic guest conducting appearances include performances with Shreveport Opera and the Arizona State University Lyric Opera Theater.
Past symphonic conducting posts include Conducting Assistant with the Phoenix Symphony, Cover Conductor for the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, Director of Orchestras at Northern Arizona University, Music Director and Conductor of the Hunter Symphony, Music Director of the Onondaga Civic Symphony Orchestra, and Assistant Conductor of the Syracuse Symphony Youth Orchestra. Symphonic guest conducting appearances include performances with the Valdosta Symphony in Georgia, the Harbin Symphony Orchestra in Harbin, China, the Finger Lakes Symphony Orchestra in Canandaigua, NY, the Society of Composers Festival in Tempe, AZ, and the Syracuse University Symphony Orchestra.
As a violinist, Nicholas Ross maintained a position with the Glimmerglass Opera Company in Cooperstown, NY from 1990-2018. He also performed as Concertmaster with the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra for select masterworks series concerts for two seasons from 2010-2011. Additional performance experience includes positions with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, the Binghamton Philharmonic, the Albany Symphony Orchestra, the Utica Symphony Orchestra, and Arizona Opera.
Some of the notable artists that Nicholas Ross performed with include Wynton Marsalis, Sarah Vaughan, Natalie Cole, Olivia Newton-John, Anne Murray, Amy Grant, Gary Karr, and Manheim Steamroller. Additionally, Ross performed with Broadway touring productions of The Producers, Annie Get Your Gun, and Peter Pan.
Nicholas Ross earned a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from Ithaca College, a Master of Music in Violin Performance as a String Fellow at Syracuse University and was the first recipient of the Doctor of Musical Arts in Orchestral Conducting from Arizona State University.