Craig S. Ross

With Mandala, Craig played clarinet on a wide variety of music ranging from Bulgarian kopanitsas to Russian quadrilles. He played saxophone on American Lindy Hop and Blues. Craig also had an unfortunate experience trying to simulate playing a Moroccan rhaita on a rotted goatskin bagpipe but that’s a long story for another time.

Craig served as Music Director for the Mandala Folk Dance Ensemble for the 1984 season and led the group as Tour Director for its international tour in the Northeast of England.

When not playing reed instruments for Mandala, Craig learned to play the upright bass for Bluegrass and Appalachian clogging numbers. He fell in love with the bass and decided to make that his primary instrument.

Craig took a break from performing to raise his family but stayed connected to the music scene in Boston by becoming a founding Board Member and key funder of The Center for Arts in Natick (TCAN). TCAN is a 300-seat performing arts center in Natick Center that has served as the foundation of Natick’s Cultural District since 1997.

After completing his PhD in Epidemiology, Craig joined the faculty of the Boston University School of Public Health and bought himself a lovely American Fender Jazz bass to focus on refining his bass playing. He joined with other epidemiology colleagues doing informal jam sessions that led to performances and ultimately to Ronona J. Craig studies with bassist Ariane Cap and highly recommends her unique training methods to bassists at any performance level.

Craig also serves as the band’s audio and video production engineer. He has used his audio and video production skills to produce videos for a number of actors, singers, and dance troupes in the Boston-area.