LA Master Chorale wins Chorus America/ASCAP Award

The Los Angeles Master Chorale (LAMC), under the artistic leadership of Music Director Grant Gershon, was honored with the prestigious 2010 Chorus America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming in recognition of its 2008-09 program, which featured, among other works, a commission and world premiere from Chinary Ung, as well as world premieres by Andrea Clearfield and Steven Sametz.

The award, presented at the Chorus America Awards Banquet on June 18, 2010, recognizes choruses that demonstrate a commitment to performances of choral music written in the last 25 years. Awards are given to adult and children's choruses based on the amount of programming of new music they present in the previous season.

Gershon and LAMC executive director Terry Knowles accepted the award on behalf of the Chorale.This is the third time LAMC has earned the accolade. The choir previously won the award in 2003, under Gershon's leadership, and in 1995, during Paul Salamunovich's tenure as music director.

Giving a voice to Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Grammy-nominated Los Angeles Master Chorale - founded in 1964 - is in its 47th season as a resident company of the Music Center of Los Angeles County and its 8th as the resident chorus at Disney Hall. The Chorale has presented more than 480 concerts, including choral music from the earliest writings to the most recent contemporary compositions. It has commissioned 25 and premiered 63 new works, of which 41 were world premieres.

In addition to presenting its own concert series each year, the Chorale has performed in more than 280 concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at both Disney Hall and the Hollywood Bowl and has also appeared at the Ojai Festival, the Great Performers series at Lincoln Center, and at Overture Center in Madison, Wisconsin, as well as at leading venues throughout the Southland.

The LA Master Chorale has recorded three CDs under Gershon's baton, including Daniel Variations by Steve Reich, released in spring 2008 on Nonesuch Records, You Are (Variations) by Steve Reich, released in September 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 fourth release conducted by Gershon, featuring the music of Nico Muhly for the Decca label, will be released later this season. LAMC previously released three CDs under Music Director Emeritus Paul Salamunovich on RCM, including the Grammy-nominated Lauridsen-Lux Aeterna.

The Chorale is also featured with Gershon on the soundtracks of such major motion pictures as Charlie Wilson's War, Lady in the Water, License to Wed, and Waterworld.

The Los Angeles Master Chorale has more than 1,000 subscribers, serves over 40,000 audience members of all ages, and provides education outreach to approximately 6,000 children each year. In 2008, the Chorale's highly successful outreach program “Voices Within” earned the coveted Chorus America Education Outreach Award.