• 2022-04-11

IN THE NEWS: APRIL 2022

Grant Gershon's 20th-anniversary season has also come with a spate of press coverage that have shown the rest of the world what we already know: Grant and the Chorale are simply the best at what they do.

 

This 20th-anniversary season, which saw the Los Angeles Master Chorale honor Grant Gershon, Kiki & David Gindler Artistic Director, has also come with a spate of press coverage that have shown the rest of the world what we already know: Grant and the Chorale are simply the best at what they do.  

Alex Ross calls the Los Angeles Master Chorale an “adventurous vocal ensemble that turns precision into wonder,” in his in-depth New Yorker story “The L.A. Master Chorale’s Pyramids of Sound.” The piece goes deep to show why the ensemble has become the premier chorus in the country and a global force for vocal music.   

Here in Los Angeles, the Times published two articles on the Chorale. Mark Swed wrote a commentary, “How the L.A. Master Chorale Makes Choral Music Matter in Modern America,” calling the Chorale “the finest-by-far major chorus in America” that “has been equally successful in beguiling a diverse new audience with great works, whether noted or neglected, of the past. Audience members new and old, along with music new and old, sit side by gratifying side.” 

Jessica Gelt’s Los Angeles Times story, “How Grant Gershon Made Los Angeles Master Chorale One of the Country’s Most Adventurous Choirs,” takes a thoughtful look at Grant’s history with the Chorale and his vision for the future, and includes interviews with Esa-Pekka Salonen, Peter Sellars, Jenny Wong, and Master Chorale singers Amy Fogerson and Edmond Rodriguez. Jessica writes, “During his lengthy tenure, he has transformed the organization from a respected choir that performed what one longtime Master Chorale singer called ‘the chestnuts of the golden age of choral music’ to one of the most adventurous, boundary-pushing and admired choirs in the country.” 

Sherry Stern interviewed Esa-Pekka Salonen, Peter Sellars, Reena Esmail, and Swed for her comprehensive Performances Magazine story, “Lifting Voices, the Los Angeles Master Chorale Marks 20 Years of Grant Gershon’s Adventurous Leadership". She writes, “Under his direction, this 100-member chorus has arguably become the country’s preeminent choral group.” Mark Swed said, “Grant made them different. I mean, he really has created something with them. He is a brilliant choral conductor. He has a command of the material in a way that’s extremely natural and convincing.”