Grant Gershon
Artistic Director
About this Artist
Hailed for his adventurous and bold artistic leadership and for eliciting technically precise and expressive performances from musicians, GRANT GERSHON is currently in his 16th season as the Kiki & David Gindler Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale. The Los Angeles Times has said the Master Chorale “has become the most exciting chorus in the country under Grant Gershon,” a reflection on both his programming and performances.
During his tenure Gershon has led more than 200 Master Chorale performances at Walt Disney Concert Hall. A fervent champion of new music, he has led world-premiere performances of major works by John Adams, Esa-Pekka Salonen, David Lang, Louis Andriessen, Christopher Rouse, Steve Reich, Morten Lauridsen, Ricky Ian Gordon, Gabriela Lena Frank, Shawn Kirchner, and Chinary Ung, among many others.
Gershon is the Resident Conductor of LA Opera. He made his acclaimed debut with the company with La Traviata in 2008 and has subsequently conducted Il Postino, Madame Butterfly, Carmen, and Florencia en el Amazonas. In New York, Gershon has appeared at Carnegie Hall and at the historic Trinity Wall Street, as well as on the Great Performers series at Lincoln Center and the Making Music series at Zankel Hall. Other major appearances include performances at the Ravinia, Aspen, Edinburgh, Helsinki, Salzburg, and Vienna festivals, the South American premiere of LA Opera’s production of Il Postino in Chile, and with the Baltimore Symphony and the Coro e Orchestra del Teatro Regio di Torino in Turin, Italy. He has worked closely with numerous conductors, including Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez, James Conlon, Gustavo Dudamel, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Simon Rattle, and his mentor, Esa-Pekka Salonen.
His discography includes two Grammy-nominated recordings: Sweeney Todd (New York Philharmonic Special Editions) and Ligeti’s Grand Macabre (Sony Classical); six commercial CDs with the Master Chorale; and two live performance albums, the Master Chorale’s 50th Season Celebration recording and Festival of Carols, the choir’s first holiday album in nearly 20 years. He has also led the Master Chorale in performances for several major motion picture soundtracks.
Gershon was named Outstanding Alumnus of the USC Thornton School of Music in 2002 and is a member of the Board of Councilors for the Thornton School and the Board of Directors of Chorus America.