About the Los Angeles Master Chorale
Los Angeles Master Chorale
download long version
download short version
The Grammy-nominated Los Angeles Master Chorale (LAMC) is recognized as one of the city’s cultural treasures and one of the world’s premier choruses. The Los Angeles Times proclaims, “Under Gershon, the Master Chorale seems to be able to master anything.” The respected arts blog CultureSpotLA, echoing that sentiment, further adds, “The Master Chorale is not just any ensemble – it is the nation’s, and maybe the world’s, most innovative choral group, thriving under its vibrant music director, Grant Gershon.”
The Chorale’s 201112 season – its 48th – marks its ninth as the resident chorus of the landmark Walt Disney Concert Hall. A founding resident company of the Music Center, the Chorale has played a leading role in the ongoing resurgence of interest in choral music. The New York Times calls the choir “inspired,” The New York Observer declares it “a superb vocal ensemble,” and the Los Angeles Times proclaims it “matchlessly polished.” Cited as a national leader for its innovative and dynamic programming and its commitment to commissioning new works, the Chorale has been awarded the ASCAP/Chorus America Award for Adventurous Programming three times – in 1995, 2003 and 2010.
Under the inspired leadership and unique artistic sensibilities of Music Director Grant Gershon, who was appointed to the post in July 2001, LAMC has expanded its audience base considerably and continues to earn superlative accolades. The Los Angeles Times describes the Chorale’s performances under Gershon’s baton as “masterly,” “ethereal” and “alluring.” Billboard says the Chorale’s “singing and direction are first-rate,” while Gramophone calls the chorus “sonically exhilarating.” LA Downtown News notes, “Choral groups don't often get much hype, but the Los Angeles Master Chorale is an exception . . . (it) has soared under Grant Gershon's direction.”
The Chorale’s 2011|12 season offers a compelling collection of choral treasures and new works by some of the most exciting composers of our time. Gershon, who begins his second decade leading the Chorale, describes the choir’s 48th Season as “the most intimate yet,” programming one world premiere, two U.S. premieres and a range of deeply spiritual pieces, major full-scale choral works and beloved choral classics. The ten-concert season opens with a musical exploration featuring the U.S. premiere of Thomas Jennefelt’s Music for a big church; for tranquility, Morten Lauridsen’s transcendent Lux Aeterna, British composer Tarik O’Regan’s Tal vez tenemos tiempo and works by two LA-based composers, Eric Whitacre’s Her Sacred Spirit Soars and the bluegrass triptych Heavenly Home by the Chorale’s own Shawn Kirchner, who drew inspiration for the piece from Shape-Note hymns (October 16, 2011). The U.S. premiere of James Newton’s jazz-tinged Mass and two Bach motets frame an expanded version of David Lang’s Pulitzer Prize-winning the little match girl passion (November 13, 2011). The choir’s annual holiday concert, “Rejoice!,” includes Hugo Distler’s otherworldly Christmas Story, a four-part a cappella treasure for chorus and soloists based on the carol Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming, and Four Christmas Motets by Poulenc (December 11, 2011). Gershon conducts Bruckner’s full-scale choral masterpiece Mass in E minor, the first time any of Bruckner’s major choral works have been performed in Walt Disney Concert Hall (February 12, 2012). Other highlights include back-to-back performances of Bach’s St. John Passion with Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra on Palm Sunday weekend (March 31 and April 1, 2012); “Andes to the Sea,” a concert spotlighting a new generation of Venezuelan choral composers and featuring the world premiere of a work by Gabriela Lena Frank (April 29, 2012); and a mostly a cappella tribute to Henryk Górecki (June 10, 2012).
Seasonal offerings include two versions of Handel’s Messiah – the Chorale’s eminently popular “do-it-yourself” Sing-Along (December 12, 2011) and a “traditional” concert version, featuring 48 members of the acclaimed Los Angeles Master Chorale and four gifted soloists from among the choir’s ranks (December 18, 2011). Other season fare includes two Saturday matinees of “Holiday Wonders,” with its engaging repertory of favorite Christmas carols and family-friendly ticket prices (December 3 and 10, 2011).
Extending its reach to young people in the community, the Los Angeles Master Chorale also offers a number of quality education programs. Gershon conducts the 23rd Annual Los Angeles Master Chorale High School Choir Festival, one of the largest high school choir festivals in the nation, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall (May 4, 2012). Serving as a vital force in training the next generation of singers and music lovers, the comprehensive yearlong in-school program culminates with a performance conducted by Gershon of 1,000 high school students from more than two-dozen Southland high schools.
“Voices Within,“ another of the Chorale’s highly successful outreach programs, which recently earned the coveted Chorus America Education Outreach Award, is an artists-in-residency program that partners three professional artists (a composer, lyricist and singer) with fifth and sixth grade classrooms. Through an intensive multi-week program, the artist team nurtures students, who have little or no musical background, to create and perform their own songs. This residency culminates with a school performance where the student/composers “premiere” their works in front of an audience. The Los Angeles Times states, “While other organizations focus on performing and listening, the Los Angeles Master Chorale helps kids create and collaborate.”
The Los Angeles Master Chorale, described as “a major cultural asset to Los Angeles” by the Los Angeles Times, was founded in 1964. One of the Music Center’s two original resident performing arts companies, it gave its first performance at the Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in January 1965, where it subsequently performed for 38 seasons until moving to the landmark Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2003. It is the first organization in the nation to offer a complete season of great choral masterworks, and, over the years, has hosted such distinguished guest conductors as Robert Shaw, Helmuth Rilling, Margaret Hillis, Robert Page and Richard Westenberg.
Gershon succeeded Music Director Emeritus Paul Salamunovich, who guided the Master Chorale from 1991 through the 200001 season and was named Music Director Emeritus in June 2001. Prior to Salamunovich’s appointment, Scottish conductor John Currie led the Chorale from 1985 to 1990, and, before that, the late Roger Wagner, the Chorale’s founder, headed the choir for two decades, from 1964 to 1984.
In addition to presenting its own concert series at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Chorale has appeared at the Ojai Festival, on the Great Performers series at New York’s Lincoln Center, and at Overture Center in Madison, Wisconsin. The Chorale also performed more than 270 concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic both at Disney Hall and at the Hollywood Bowl with such stellar conductors as Gustavo Dudamel, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Zubin Mehta, Andre Previn, Pierre Boulez, Michael Tilson-Thomas and Roger Norrington, among many others, and is featured on several recordings with the orchestra.
The Chorale, which has commissioned 27 and premiered 69 new works, of which 44 were world premieres, has recorded four CDs under Gershon’s baton: A Good Understanding, an all-Nico Muhly disk recorded at Disney Hall and released by Decca in September 2010; Daniel Variations by Steve Reich, released in 2008 on Nonesuch Records; You Are (Variations) by Steve Reich, released in 2005 on Nonesuch Records; and an RCM recording featuring Esa-Pekka Salonen’s first choral work, Two Songs to Poems of Ann Jäderlund, and Philip Glass’ Itaipu. A fifth CD with Gershon will be record in June 2012 at Disney Hall and will feature three works by Polish composer Henryk Górecki, including his rapturous 1981 composition Miserere, a once-radical plea for peace written in support of Poland’s then-budding Solidarity Movement, and two that have never been recorded – Lobgesang (Hymn of Praise), composed in 2000 for chorus and glockenspiel, and Five Marian Songs. Slated for release in fall 2012, it will be the Chorale’s second CD on Decca.
Previously, the Chorale released three CDs under the baton of Music Director Emeritus Paul Salamunovich, including the Grammy-nominated Lauridsen-Lux Aeterna, Christmas, and a recording of Dominick Argento’s Te Deum and Maurice Duruflé’s Messe “Cum Jubilo.”
In addition, Gershon conducted the Chorale on the soundtracks of Charlie Wilson’s War, Lady In The Water, Click and License to Wed. Soundtracks with Music Director Emeritus Salamunovich include A.I. Artificial Intelligence, My Best Friend’s Wedding, The Sum of All Fears, Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Waterworld.
Since moving to Disney Hall, the Chorale has enjoyed a substantial increase in audience size, as well as a growing base of individual and institutional donors. Its 201112 operating budget is $4.75 million. The Chorale’s endowment is currently valued at $4.7 million. The Los Angeles Master Chorale has more than 1,300 subscribers, serves over 30,000 audience members of all ages, and provides education outreach to approximately 6,000 children each year.
6/10/11