Press Quotes About the Los Angeles Master Chorale

(The Los Angeles Master Chorale) has become the most exciting chorus in the country under Grant Gershon.”

– Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, September 14, 2004

Gershon’s matchlessly polished choir”

– Los Angeles Times, May 6, 2008

Choral groups don't often get much hype, but the Los Angeles Master Chorale is an exception. A founding resident company of the Music Center now in its 44th season, the L.A. Master Chorale has soared under Grant Gershon's direction. A champion of new music who wants to celebrate the city's cultural diversity, Gershon conducts the second commission in the new L.A. Is the World series on May 4: a collaboration between composer David O, Mexican folk harp musician Sergio ‘Checo’ Alonso and the Master Chorale.”

– Downtown News, January 17, 2008

The Los Angeles Master Chorale is truly a chorale of master singers. It is hard to imagine that any other similar group anywhere in the world could possibly out-sing them. Not one note was sung on this concert with less than its full value, perhaps inspired by the presence of the composers, but more likely because they shared their maestro’s love for and commitment to the music. Without a doubt, Grant Gershon has fashioned a world-class ensemble out of one that always had the potential to be world-class, but until this evening, had yet to prove itself on every note of every phrase of every piece of music. This was yet another night that those who chose to stay home should have attended.

But the beating heart of this organization is Grant Gershon, who brings heightened interest to every concert he conducts. What continues to be so refreshing is his enthusiasm for every piece he conducts.”

– Beverly Hills Outlook, January 2008

the ever-adventurous Grant Gershon”

– Los Angeles Times, March 11, 2008

Gershon’s good work with his chorus is widely known and honored.”

– LA Weekly, April 9, 2008

This is a wonderful organization. They do brilliant, brilliant work!”

– Martin Perlich, KCSN-FM, May 2008

Gershon has brought a youthful, eclectic exuberance to the LA Master Chorale”

– Arroyo Monthly, September 2007

Avant-garde theater director Peter Sellars cannot stop gushing about the man (Gershon) he calls one of the greatest musical talents of his generation.”

– Arroyo Monthly, September 2007

(Peter) Sellars marvels at the breadth of Gershon’s taste. ‘He’s so funny, because in one way, he’s really straight-laced and square, but then he’ll surprise you by getting down,’ he says. Sellars notes that Gershon is unafraid to tackle difficult musical works that would prompt less brave souls to muse that the music is ‘brutal.”

But, he adds, ‘Grant takes you through it, and all the secret chambers are unlocked. All of the tenderness that’s hiding inside these daunting, brusque, corrosive forms. Suddenly the little pearls inside all those ugly oysters, are revealed, and you can never hear this music the same way again.”

– Arroyo Monthly, September 2007

(Gershon) has been straddling the kind of repertoire classical music audiences expect and the new music he is equally passionate about, juxtaposing familiar and unfamiliar works.”

– Arroyo Monthly, September 2007

The Master Chorale premiered two works for the history books. It resurrected Christopher Rouse’s loud-enough-to-raise-the-dead Requiem and commissioned the striking opening scene of Louis Andriessen’s forthcoming opera, ‘La Commedia.’”

– Los Angeles Times, December 16, 2007

Choral groups don’t often get much hype, but the Los Angeles Master Chorale is an exception. A gounding resident company of the Music Center now in its 44th season, the LA Master Chorale has soared under Grant Gershon’s direction.”

– LA Downtown News, January 5, 2008

(Gershon is) a champion of new music who wants to celebrate the city’s cultural diversity.”

– LA Downtown News, January 5, 2008

a finely realized performance … that filled the sold-out hall with cathedral sounds and crescendos that could be felt as well as heard”

– Los Angeles Times, October 16, 2007

there were many sensitive modulations in dynamics, a grand architectural conception and that astonishingly well-honed and blended sound from the singers even in the most complex fugal passages”

– Los Angeles Times, October 16, 2007

the chorale responded with fervor and joy”

– Los Angeles Times, October 16, 2007

Grant Gershon has spent his six years at the helm of the Los Angeles Master Chorale radically enlarging the ensemble's repertoire with 20th and 21st century works.

Last night, Gershon took full advantage of Disney Hall by employing its massive pipe organ to judiciously augment the orchestra. The instrument's 32-foot wooden pipes rumbled in support of the bass notes and the entire instrument added weight and splendor to many of the climaxes, especially the end of the third and sixth movements.

Gershon's conducting was taut in the soft, somber sections and he moved things forward briskly in the massive choral fugues. At the end, he received that rarest of honors. Despite the fact that nearly all of the 2,000 people in attendance know this piece well (many have sung it), the audience remained silent for eight seconds before bursting into, even by Los Angeles standards, an apoplectic standing ovation.

The reaction was right on. The chorale was superb, with supple softs and powerful but not strident, louds.

Leave it to Gershon to add something unusual to the evening, in this case, a taste of rare Beethoven to open the program, which was played without an intermission. This was a seven-minute setting of two poems by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe entitled Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage. The Chorale's work was again excellent.”

– Inland Daily Bulletin, October 2007

…roaring when requested to do so, and singing with the faintest and yet clearest pianissimo when necessary”

– Beverly Hills Outlook, October 2007

The Master Chorale sang with a balance and blend that was truly remarkable… authentic in pitch and dynamics.”

– Beverly Hills Outlook, October 2007

Maestro Gershon, continues to shine as a musician and educator. Los Angeles is very lucky to have him.”

– Beverly Hills Outlook, October 2007

The Walt Disney isn’t a standard concert hall.

An instant classic since its opening in 2003, the Disney Hall has fabulously ‘live’ acoustics that amplifies tenfold any crack or imperfection of a performance. On the other hand, it makes any normal music-making sound great, and any great performance sound positively divine. The Los Angeles Master Chorale’s season-opening concert of Eine deutsches Requiem was just such a great performance.

Conductor and Master Chorale Director Grant Gershon captured perfectly the spirit of this work – the joy, the hope, the exultation of the glorious afterlife awaiting our dearly departed.”

– Classical Voice, October 2007

Gershon coaxed some beautifully nuanced playing and singing from his Master Chorale and the Master Chorale Orchestra (some of the finest freelancers around). – Classical Voice, October 2007

The many choral fugues and double-fugues were dispatched with tremendous brio, and sounded absolutely ecstatic when combined with the joyous peeling of the Disney Hall’s 6000-pipe organ. – Classical Voice, September/October 2007

The L.A. Master Chorale gave a stirring and highly atmospheric account of this mini-masterpiece (Beethoven’s Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage).”

– Classical Voice, September/October 2007

Gershon led a strongly etched performance.”

– Los Angeles Times, Nov. 26, 2007

Grant Gershon did an amazing job of keeping it all together.”

– Classical Voice, November 2007

“There aren’t many cultural institutions that do the holidays like the Los Angeles Master Chorale.”

– Downtown News, December 3, 2007

For this special kids-friendly holiday concert (Holiday Wonders), the LA Master Chorale not only ‘decked the hall’ of the Walt Disney with holiday colors, but also shook it up with wildly enthusiastic singing from the stage and the audience alike. For once, one felt a sense of togetherness in the L.A. sprawl that is loosely made up of some eighty-eight cities and neighborhoods. That was not small accomplishment, testifying to the communicative and unifying power of music and the arts.”

– Classical Voice, December 2007

Crowd-pleasing sing-along numbers (for Holiday Wonders) were lent a big hand by master organist Christoph Bull, who pulled out all the stops (pun intended) on his organ console to add some astounding sonorities and sound effects.”

– Classical Voice, December 2007

About Holiday Wonders: “Perhaps the most moving of all were the three new works by kids from local elementary schools, whose daring musical experiments almost restored my faith in America’s public school system (even in the face of the current LAUSC fiscal fiasco). They were sung with great feelings and polish by the Voices Within Chorus, made up of 5th graders from various L.A.-area school.”

– Classical Voice, December 2007

its signature holiday family concert (Holiday Wonders)… replete with sing-alongs and carols. Santa himself is known to show up to conduct a number or two.”

– L.A. Downtown News, December 3, 2007
About Holiday Wonders:

Kid friendly”

– L.A. Times, November 16, 2007

“Sing without the karaoke machine. The holidays might be the only time of year when you can belt out a tune sans equipment and not feel like a warbling weirdo. Carolers-in-waiting can double their sing-along fun with the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s hallelujah-resplendent ‘Messiah.’”

– Los Angeles Times Magazine, December 9, 2007

The Los Angeles Master Chorale’s holiday train keeps on rolling. Twenty-seven years ago, Chorale founder Roger Wagner thought the audience, despite some of its resident tin ears, ought to take a crack at Handel’s famed ‘Hallelujah’ chorus. It’s been a Chorale staple ever since.”

– LA Downtown News, December 10, 2007
About the Messiah Sing-Along:

The audience takes over for the renowned chorus, providing rousing vocal support for a team of four professional soloists from the Chorale.”

– Beverly Press, December 13, 2007
About the Messiah Sing-Along:

Would-be singers and those who simply like to observe, converge on Disney Hall to belt out what is no doubt one of the greatest hits of all times.”

– Park La Brea News, December 13, 2007
About the Messiah Sing-Along:

This is a holiday treat, and everyone walks away ten feet off the ground. This has been a 27-year tradition and it gets bigger and better every year. See you there.”

– Tolucan Times, November 28, 2007
About the Messiah Sing-Along:

Whether a seasoned vet or first-timer, everyone is welcome to participate in this annual holiday tradition.”

– KPCC, December 2007

The ambitious repertoire that Mr. Gershon will lead the (Master) Chorale through this season is nothing short of stunning, and led me to entertain the notion of maybe setting up a lean-to backstage where I might plug in a hot plate, eat baked beans and listen to glorious music until I was discovered as a squatter. Describing music always falls short of experiencing it. But see for yourselves. Choose a concert or two, take the ride Downtown, shell out the few bucks and open your ears and minds. I’m sure you’ll find, as I have, that L.A. has treasures to rival any in the world.”

– Doug Weaver, Valley Scene Magazine, July 2005

The Los Angeles Master Chorale is “not your grandfather’s choral group”

– James Taylor, Performances Magazine, November 2005

The Los Angeles Master Chorale and its music director, Grant Gershon, gave the whole work (You Are [Variations]) a cogent, sizzling performance at Lincoln Center last week.”

– Barbara Jepson, Wall Street Journal, November 2, 2006

The corps of young musicians conducted by Grant Gershon turned in performances that were both loving and expert.”

– Justin Davidson, Newsday, December 12, 2006

When the stars align and the programming manages to both soothe and challenge, the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s current Grant Gershon-era can suggest a high-water mark in choral aesthetics. Sunday at the Walt Disney Concert Hall was one of those nights, as the chorale offered up an evening of music from the last quarter-century by living composers with profound and fresh ideas of how to refresh vocal music while respecting an orthodoxy that goes back centuries. What with Disney Hall’s enchanted acoustical kingdom and inspired ambience, the pieces were in place for a profound choral encounter.”

– Josef Woodard, Los Angeles Times, June 5, 2007

The Master Chorale and its orchestra have been making enormous strides technically under Gershon’s direction. (Christopher) Rouse’s Requiem is their biggest challenge to date. The performance was comprehensive and exalted. A recording is now a must.”

– Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, March 27, 2007

Grant Gershon, music director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, has made the ensemble into an important part of the city’s cultural life. Not so many years ago, one went to the group’s concerts and heard warmed-over classics for the most part, performed to half-empty auditoriums. Sunday’s concert in Disney Hall, by contrast, was one of the major events of the season, the world premeire of Christopher Rouse’s Requiem, and it drew not only a full house, but a curious and warmly appreciative one.”

– Tim Mangum, Orange County Register, March 27, 2007

a luminous performance”

– Chris Pasles, Los Angeles Times, November 14, 2006

Gershon and the chorale met the formidable challenges of this kaleidoscopically colored music with a stunning immediacy and a fluid response to the texts. Moving securely through the treacherous shifts in pitch (this feat alone would justify the huge applause at the end of the work), the chorale blended beautifully in layers of sound that sometimes moved at different speeds and always deepened or expanded the listener’s response.”

– Chris Pasles, Los Angeles Times, November 14, 2006

It was Gershon who ensured that the voices of the 110-plus singers flowed so expressively and lucidly throughout Rachmaninoff’s amazingly selfless work.”

– Chris Pasles, Los Angeles Times, November 14, 2006

It was the Master Chorale, stripped of any instrumental accompaniment, that was on display for a rapt audience hungering for the level of a cappella magnificence that has elevated this choir above the rest over many years. The Master Chorale and their intrepid leader were rewarded by well-deserved loud cheers, sustained applause and a standing ovation by a grateful audience.”

– Beverly Hills Outlook, December 11, 2006

The Los Angeles Master Chorale, which, on this night, celebrated 41 years of existence, is in its tone, its harmony, its precision and its arrangements, a choral masterpiece.”

– Bob Agnew, L.A. Jazz Scene, July 2005

Music Director Grant Gershon has pushed the musical envelope wider in each of his three previous seasons; this one (2005-06) rips it apart.”

– Bob Thomas, Pasadena Star News, September 2, 2005

Walt Disney Concert Hall, Frank Gehry’s gift to surround-sound buffs, usually sits waiting for someone to take advantage of its spatial layout. Few have. Grant Gershon is among the exceptions. The piece that struck gold was Thomas Tallis’ remarkable ‘Spem in Alium.’ If the recording industry wants to jump-start its flagging multichannel formats, how about recording the Master Chorale’s Tallis right here in Disney Hall, in 5.1 surround, and marketing it as the ultimate surround demo single?”

– Rick Ginell, Los Angeles Times, October 4, 2005

a world class celebration”

– Don Heckman, Los Angeles Times, December 30, 2005

The Master Chorale performance Sunday (was) led with precision and vitality by music director Grant Gershon. It was a stirring performance.”

– Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, March 22, 2005

On Sunday night in the Walt Disney Concert hall, this alternatingly contrived and brilliant musical evocation of Christ’s Passion (Tan Dun’s ‘Water Passion After St. Matthew’), modeled after the form perfected by Bach some 280 years ago, received its local premiere, in a performance of deep integrity and commitment by Grant Gershon and Los Angeles Master Chorale. And when, at the work’s conclusion, several members of the chorus, the various soloists and Gershon left their posts to touch the water as the lights dimmed, something very special occurred, the all-too-rare feeling that this experience would not end when one walked into the night.”

– David Mermelstein, Daily News, March 22, 2005

(Tan Dun’s ‘Water Passion After St. Matthew”) received its first Los Angeles hearing on Sunday night in the capable hands of Grant Gershon and his splendid and adventurous Master Chorale.”

– Alan Rich, Daily Variety, March 22, 2005

The ample-sized chorale’s clear, luminous singing and the big sound from the small orchestra were their own rewards.”

– Richard Ginell, Los Angeles Times, April 26, 2005

Succeeding through amity rather than intimidation, (Gershon) is the leader the Los Angeles Master Chorale needs now – a quiet revolutionary determined to banish Wagnerian bombast.”

– David Mermelstein, Los Angeles Magazine, September 2004

Last week’s Master Chorale concert at Disney offered fair evidence of Grant Gershon’s enterprise in building his ensemble into a significant part of our musical life, offering concerts for the thinking listener as well as the pleasure-seeking.”

– Alan Rich, L.A. Weekly, June 4, 2004

Grant Gershon, the personable, boyish, enterprising music director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, doesn’t follow a predictable line.”

– Richard Ginell, Los Angeles Times, October 5, 2004

The Master Chorale sang ecstatically. Throughout the evening, one could savor the way the ensemble’s voices blended in clearly focused, three-dimensional detail.”

– Richard Ginell, Los Angeles Times, October 5, 2004

The audience was immediately captured by the sheer beauty floating about the Hall.”

– Douglas Neslund, Beverly Hills Outlook, January 23, 2004

Grant Gershon conducted a fearless performance that, despite the attention to counting necessary to keep (Steve Reich’s ‘You Are’) on track, was full of elations. With ‘You Are,’ the Master Chorale got a masterpiece.”

– Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, October 26, 2004

(Steve) Reich is one of music world’s most adept game-players. That’s what brought him the stomping, stamping standing ovation from the capacity crowd at Disney the other night. On a program full of some pretty good old music

Stravinsky’s pseudo-medieval ‘Symphony of Psalms’ and a hauntingly beautiful renaissance motet by Flemish master Josquin Desprez – brand-news Reich held its place.”

– Alan Rich, Daily Variety, October 26, 2004

The intensity may not have been as high as it was at Fenway Park in Boston, but there was a definite buzz of excitement Sunday at the Walt Disney Concert Hall surrounding the world premiere of Steve Reich’s ‘You Are (Variations)’ performed by the Los Angeles Master Chorale. The fact that the performance was of such a high caliber reflected the effort expended by Gershon and the Master Chorale. This was a concert of which the Master Chorale can be proud.”

– Jim Farber, Daily Breeze, October 26, 2004

(Steve) Reich’s reputation as ‘musical tsunami’ continues with Los Angeles Master Chorale’s world premiere of his latest choral work.”

– Victoria Looseleaf, The Voice, October 2004

It was an intriguing idea – combining the rich, lustrous voices of the Los Angeles Master Chorale with the instrumental prowess of some of the Southland’s finest Latin jazz musicians. And in ‘celebrar,’ Tuesday at Walt Disney Concert Hall, it worked well.”

– Don Heckman, Los Angeles Times, December 30, 2004

Celebrar means to celebrate and honor with religious ceremonies, festivities or other observances; to make publicly known, to proclaim. The event (‘celebrar’) did just that. Amidst the astounding structure of the concert hall, rhythms of percussion, guitar, horns, piano and the voices of the Los Angeles Master Chorale joyously reved up some holiday spirit.”

– Blake Frino, Splash, December 30, 2004

Perhaps a mark of Maestro Gershon’s programming genius was the impression after all was said and sung that a well-constructed and performed musical offering had been given those fortunate enough to have been present.”

– Douglas Neslund, Beverly Hills Outlook, November 14, 2004

A musical menu that has something for everyone.”

– Kim Devore, Malibu Times, September 9, 2004

Music Director Grant Gershon again proved he’s the master of the Chorale. … the magnificent Chorale sang with a winning fervor, an animalistic display of wild syncopations and head-reeling modulations (that) brought incandescent results.”

– Truman Wang, Classical Voice, March 28, 2004

Master Gershon was truly the master of the score, leading all forces with his own passion and secure knowledge of the work.”

– Douglas Neslund, Beverly Hills Outlook, April 19, 2004

As usual, the Chorale was sensational. A coveted cultural treasure in the music circles of our fine city.”

– Steve Lieberman, Observer, March 30, 2004

The Master Chorale is singing in top form under the leadership of music director Grant Gershon.”

– Jim Farber, Daily Breeze, April 20, 2004

The Master Chorale was augmented by the Faithful Central Bible Church Heritage Chorale into one vibrant body that, as conducted by Grant Gershon, feared no rhythm.”

– Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, March 9, 2004

In spots, these perfs (sic) even achieved the impossible, surpassing the daunting examples of (Duke) Ellington’s own recordings. Ellington would have killed for a chorus of the caliber of the Master chorale, which produced a luminous carpet of sound.”

– Rick Ginell, Variety, March 11, 2004

All night, the voices were grand and glorious.”

– Tony Gieske, Hollywood Reporter, March 9, 2004

Gershon mixed the works into an over-arching whole, a continual journal of delicate, incandescent sound that spoke to the human soul and its spiritual aspirations in a way only music can. Gershon’s singers work together with an elevated, soulful passion, and the sonic result is deeply moving.”

– John Farrell, Pasadena Star News, January 28, 2004

Master Chorale Music Director Grant Gershon deserves credit for ambitious programming.”

– James C. Taylor, Los Angeles Times, June 15, 2004

The performance was fluid, with voices blending seamlessly. At the end of a splendid, transcendent performance, the audience didn’t so much leap to its feet as levitate.”

– Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, May 25, 2004

The sound was glorious, clear and present… the singing was tight, and the hall’s acoustics afforded a transparency that highlighted Bach’s wondrous polyphony.”

– David Mermelstein, Daily News, November 19, 2003

Adams’ music is a favorite of Gershon’s, and he conducts it with vigor and commitment. It was a joy to hear such excellent modern music performed so eagerly, the Chorale providing beautifully intoned singing. And this score hardly could have found a more sympathetic venue than Disney Hall, where shimmering waves of sound bounced off the walls with the restless perfection of the Pacific surf.”

– David Mermelstein, Daily News, November 19, 2003

Two years ago, [the Los Angeles Master Chorale] brought on board an invigorating, inventive and enormously gifted young conductor as its music director, and under Grant Gershon there has been a spirit of renewal.”

– Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, November 18, 2003

The program Sunday was typical of the way Gershon has worked to maintain the Master Chorale’s traditions (and hang on to its traditional audience) while bringing it up to date. The evening started with a 1,000-year-old plainchant, wonderfully sung as the chorus stood in the aisles, surrounding the audience with luminous sound, and concluded with a stiffing performance of John Adams’ ‘Harmonium.’”

– Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, November 18, 2003

On Sunday, the performance of Adams’ ‘Harmonium’ proved how brilliant this chorus can be when given new music of substance.”

– Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, November 18, 2003

With a large orchestra on stage and the chorus moved up to the benches, the sound was riveting. … the climaxes …were …extraordinarily clear and viscerally powerful, while the quiet passages were pure magic. Gershon maintained a steady line from the chorus’ throbbing iterations of the word ‘no’ to its sensuously lapping repetitions of the line ‘rowing to Eden’ at the end, creating a tranquil feeling of affirmation. Any chorus that can capture that moment deserves Disney.”

– Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, November 18, 2003

The exhilarating music and performance, brilliantly conducted by the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s music director, Grant Gershon, did nothing but boast of tomorrow.”

– Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, August 19, 2003

The music resounded clearly and distinctly in the shiny new hall, a promise of great things to come.”

– John Farrell, Pasadena Star-News, November 19, 2003

From this quiet, elegant moment the music moves without pause into the storm that Adams crates around the poets “Wild Nights.” Here the orchestra screams and howls and pounds away, the voices rising and falling like the winds and waves. At the loudest moments, the music was almost unbearably loud, at the quietest, even the whispers could be heard. It was an often-thundering suggestion of the beauty and passion of things to come.”

– John Farrell, Pasadena Star-News, November 19, 2003

As the uncannily well-matched chorus sang a segment of the traditional ‘Alleluia,’ the room swelled with a rich tone and pleasant hint of reverb.”

– Fred Shuster, Daily News, October 6, 2003

Being able to move between disparate musical worlds works fine for Gershon, whose piano chops are as good as his conducting ones.”

– Victoria Looseleaf, Los Angeles Times, November 18, 2003

The first piece was the lovely and understated 10th century hymn, Veni, Creator Spiritus, an invocation to the creative spirit. Ancient, a cappella plainchant is like concert time travel – close your eyes and you’re transported back to shadowy medieval cathedral.”

– Kristin Friedrich, Los Angeles Downtown News, November 11, 2003

… the singers stayed the course perfectly.”

– Kristin Friedrich, Los Angeles Downtown News, November 11, 2003

The full chorus, 114 singers strong, and the LAMC orchestra, with 75 players, gave everything, and the flood of sound was loud, crystalline and totally enveloping.”

– Kristin Friedrich, Los Angeles Downtown News, November 11, 2003

The throats of the singers were more than capable during the plainchant, which had been modernized by Gustav Mahler and Grant Gershon, the music director of the Chorale.”

– Tony Gieske, The Hollywood Reporter, November 18, 2003

Being by Johann Sebastian Bach, the piece, ‘Sing to the Lord a New Song,’ presented a contrapuntal thicket, but the massed voices made all the paths through it clear, and the effect was quite grand as the singers weaved the melodic lines together.”

– Tony Gieske, The Hollywood Reporter, November 18, 2003

The main course came after intermission: ‘Harmonium,’, verse by John Donne and Emily Dickenson set to music by John Adams. The words of the two great poets fell trippingly from the tongues of the chorale, and the instrumental music was executed with aplomb by the Los Angeles Master Chorale.”

– Tony Gieske, The Hollywood Reporter, November 18, 2003

One electrifying passage, the opening of ‘Wild Nights,’ sounded like Ravel only triple forte, and it was worth the price of admission.”

– Tony Gieske, The Hollywood Reporter, November 18, 2003

The Walt Disney Concert Hall’s other resident company, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, got its own chance to shine in its new room Sunday night and exploited the hall’s excellent handling of massed voices. The event confirmed that Master Chorale music director Grant Gershon and the Phil’s Esa-Pekka Salonen, are really two sides of the same coin: Both of these progressives are reshaping notions of what an inaugural concert can be.”

– Richard S. Ginell, Daily Variety, November 18, 2003

Then the Chorale reassembled on the orchestra riser for J.S. Bach’s sublime motet ‘Sing to the Lord a New Song,’ where the contrapuntal choral choices produced a three-dimensional effect unique to my experience. The sound seemed to have layers, with each part solidly anchored in its own space.”

– Richard S. Ginell, Daily Variety, November 18, 2003

Finally, Gershon turned to the ubiquitous John Adams, leading a lively, dynamically sensitive performance of Adam’s choral/orchestral breakthrough, ‘Harmonium.’”

– Richard S. Ginell, Daily Variety, November 18, 2003

…completely successful were members of the Los Angeles Master Chorale… the singers projected with easy clarity.”

– Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, November 8, 2003

From the 2001-02 Season (Grant Gershon’s first as Music Director)

The chorale offered mystery, sweep and glory”

– Chris Pasles, Los Angeles Times, October 1, 2002

…in his brief time on the new job, Gershon has found a richness of tone and a strength of phrasing that could launch the Chorale onto a new tier of musical importance.”

– Alan Rich, LA Weekly, October 19, 2001

Gershon conducted his first program as new music director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale on Saturday night at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. On the most immediate level, it was a concert of marvelous music, marvelously sung, for which the audience responded with warm enthusiasm. But on another level, it was a statement. What made the performance so impressive was a larger context in which it was placed. The program was an unhackneyed exercise in using music as a force for expansive expression. But what made the evening so engaging was the sheer sense of singers taking risks, and the evident delight the new music director took in guiding them to safety. Gershon is a direct, unfussy conductor, who values clarity, clean execution and immediate statements. There was no interpretive grandstanding; there was a wealth of sincere, musician-friendly support… (Gershon) left us with something else, the sense that music can move forward. This will be an ensemble to watch.”

– Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, October 1, 2001

In only the second concert – and the first off-campus – led by the new music director, the chorale sounded honed, fresh, blended and pitch-accurate throughout a difficult, brutally exposed six-part a cappella program.”

– Chris Pasles, Los Angeles Times, November 19, 2001

Gershon is unquestionably the authority here – however collegial – and he’s bent on getting his acolytes to follow him into new territory. (He) bends with the music, seeming to shape not just the sound but a living space for them as well – and perhaps, a new place for the Master Chorale in Los Angeles.”

– John Henken, Los Angeles Times, September 30, 2001

The Alhambra-bred musician is no ordinary choirmaster. Gershon joins the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Esa-Pekka Salonon and the Los Angeles Opera’s Kent Nagano in the next generation’s musical triumvirate.”

–Donna Permutter, Performing Arts Magazine, September 2001

(Gershon is) an ardent champion of new music.”

– Paul Anderson, Pasadena Weekly, November 15, 2001

Gershon, well into his premier season as music director, has clearly worked with his singers to establish the mood and aura of each moment. The Chorale was ever attentive, pliant, tuneful and clean in its entrances. Gershon’s attention to uniform vowels created a dark, rich sound awash with resonant sparkling amplitude. These voices, led with visionary design by Gershon, restored excitement and opened ears to the vastness of an uncertain world.”

– Ann Gresham, Daily Breeze, February 5, 2002

Gershon’s directon is clean and concise with no unnecessary gestures or histrionics. It is clear that he is carving a whole new niche for himself and his will be a significant odyssey to monitor. We now eagerly await the rest of the season.”

– Dorian, Beverly Hills Outlook, October 7, 2001

Utilizing his sense of drama, Grant Gershon incorporated Ligeti’s super modern composition ‘Lux Aeterna’ into 16th century composer Desprez’s ‘Missa de Beata Virgine.’ The effect was a stunning example of how music of old and music of new are in a complementary brotherhood. Who would guess that music composed 500 years apart could blend so well? Gershon pulled it off and his chorale performed it with enthusiastic relish. The close to sold-out audience listened with rapt attention. Several things come to mind about this: first, that well-presented modern music is exciting; second, modern music is a visual experience was sell as a sonic one which plays better as a live presentation. The Chorale under Gershon can be expected to take on new complexity as his influence takes hold. This concert exemplifies his youthful leadership and the response from singers and audience alike indicates that he will fulfill his role in the chorale world as have other native Southern Californians before him.”

– Bill Peters, Arcadia Weekly/Pasadena Independent, November 22, 2001

The Los Angeles Master Chorale is considered the best chorale in the country.”

– John Farrell, Press-Telegram, June 22, 2001

Gershon conducted a sweeping an monumental program that showcased the choir’s vast musical, technical and emotional range.”

– Elizabeth von Schlesinger, Beverly Hills 90210, November 2001

Sources report that Master Chroale singers were delighted with the choice (Gershon as new music director). Togther with Esa-Pekka Salonen, music director of the L.A. Phil, and Kent Nagano, the new principal conductor of the L.A. Opera, Gershon puts three top-flight musicians in their 40s leading three of Los Angeles major music organizations.”

–Bob Thomas, Pasadena Star News, September 21, 2001

a new era for the renowned choir”

– Downtown News, September 17, 2001

One of America’s top vocal ensembles”

– David Mermelstein, New York Times, January 30, 2000

The Los Angeles Master Chorale has been leading a double life. It’s not just the city’s premier choral organization and frequent collaborator with the L.A. Philharmonic, it’s fast becoming Hollywood’s house choir, having sung in nearly two dozen movies over the past decade.”

– Jon Burlingame, Los Angeles Times, May 2, 2000

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7-5-08

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