Jon ‘Dirk’ Ross is a Music Performance Major at Angelo State University (ASU) and is
the student of Dr. Mark Covey. In 2026, Mr. Ross was a finalist in the Mississippi Opera John
Alexander Vocal Competition and placed 2nd in the Young Artist Crossover category. In the
Spring of 2025, he competed in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and earned a
Young Artist Encouragement Award. At age 18, he won first place as well as the Harold Stark
Encouragement Award in the 2023 Southwest Region NATS Competition. He is also a proud
recipient of the 2025 Schmidt Vocal Arts Alumni Grant and the Presser Scholar Award.
Mr. Ross has portrayed the iconic roles of Gianni Schicchi, Papageno, Shrek, and the
Phantom of the Opera. He has sung in multiple opera scenes at ASU as well as in the AIMS
Festival in Austria. These scenes include roles such as ‘Malatesta’ from Don Pasquale,
‘Marcello’ from La Boheme, and ‘Figaro’ from Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Mr. Ross has been a
featured soloist for both the San Angelo Symphony and the Permian Basin Opera Company.
Ross was an emerging young artist at the 2024 Opera Maya International Music Festival and the
2025 American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz, Austria. This summer he will attend
the Mediterranean Opera Studio & Festival in Italy and perform the roles of ‘Il Conte’ in Le
Nozze di Figaro, ‘Dr. Malatesta’ in Don Pasquale, and ‘Marullo’ in Rigoletto