Conductor Grant Gershon, entering his 10th season as music director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, is equally at home with symphonic and choral music, opera and musical theater. In 2001 he was appointed Music Director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, which the Los Angeles Times has proclaimed "the most exciting chorus in the country under Gershon's leadership." Opera News calls him "a first-rate conductor." Composer John Adams declares, "Grant Gershon is one of those rarities we call 'the complete musician.' My respect for his musicality-for his conducting, his extraordinary musical intuition and his formidable ear-knows no bounds." In addition to his post with the Chorale, Mr. Gershon was named Associate Conductor/Chorus Master of the LA Opera beginning in the 2007|08 Season.

An ardent champion of new music, Mr. Gershon, who has led more than 75 performances with the Chorale at Disney Hall, has given numerous world premiere performances, including such major works as You Are (Variations) by Steve Reich; Requiem by Christopher Rouse; City of Dis by Louis Andriessen; Sang by Eve Beglarian; A Map of Los Angeles by David O; Spiral XII by Chinary Ung; Dream Variations by Andrea Clearfield; Music's Music by Steven Sametz; Voici le soir by Morten Lauridsen; Messages and Brief Eternity by Bobby McFerrin and Roger Treece; Broken Charms by Donald Crockett; and Rezos (Prayers) by Tania Leon. He has also premiered works by John Adams, Ricky Ian Gordon, Billy Childs and Don Davis; and given American premieres of works by Esa-Pekka Salonen, James MacMillan, Sofia Gubaidulina and Mark Anthony Turnage, among others.

In 2008, Mr. Gershon made his highly acclaimed L.A. Opera debut leading eight performances of Verdi's La Traviata, about which the Los Times declared, "Grant Gershon, best known as the music director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, proved an exacting, sensitive, deeply involving Verdi conductor. Indeed, I could have been tricked into thinking that one of the world's top orchestras was in the pit, so well did the L.A. Opera orchestra play." This coming September, Gershon will lead the world premiere performances at L.A. Opera of Daniel Catan's highly anticipated Il Postino, featuring Placido Domingo, and he will make his Santa Fe Opera debut in 2011, conducting Peter Sellars' new production of Vivaldi's Griselda.

He has worked closely with many leading conductors, including Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez, Gustavo Dudamel, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Simon Rattle and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Mr. Gershon has also appeared as guest conductor with Los Angeles Philharmonic, Houston Grand Opera, Minnesota Opera, Swedish Royal Opera, Juilliard Opera Theatre, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Gustav Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Finnish chamber orchestra Avanti!, among others. He has also led performances at many of the world's most prestigious festivals, including the Ravinia, Edinburgh, Vienna, Aspen and Helsinki festivals as well as the Roma-Europa Festival and the Festival Otonno in Madrid. Many of these appearances have been as music director for projects by famed director Peter Sellars, with whom Mr. Gershon has enjoyed a long and fruitful artistic relationship.

Additionally, in 2006, he appeared on the Great Performers series at Lincoln Center leading the LA Master Chorale in vocal works of Steve Reich, and on the Making Music Series at Zankel Hall. In 2007, he conducted the Minnesota Opera's world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon's acclaimed opera The Grapes of Wrath and led subsequent performances of the work with the Utah Symphony. In 2007, he also conducted the Los Angeles Children's Chorus presentation of a new opera, The Keepers of the Night, by Peter Ash and Donald Sturrock, and made his debut at the Berkshire Choral Festival. As an educator, he previously served as Music Director of the Idyllwild Arts Festival Chorus.

Mr. Gershon's discography includes two Grammy Award-nominated recordings: Sweeney Todd (New York Philharmonic Special Editions) and Ligeti's Grand Macabre (Sony Classical); as well as three with the Chorale: Glass-Salonen (RCM), You Are (Variations) (Nonesuch), honored with the WQXR Gramophone America Award in 2006 and selected by The New York Times, Washington Post and Newsday, among others, as one the top ten classical recordings of the year, and Daniel Variations (Nonesuch), described by UK's Guardian as "a searching, serious piece... one of Reich's major statements." He also conducted the cast recording of the opera The Grapes of Wrath (PS Classics).

Prior to joining the Chorale, Mr. Gershon served as Assistant Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1994 to 1997, during which time he led performances at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and the Hollywood Bowl. Mr. Gershon also served as Assistant Conductor/Principal Pianist with LA Opera from 1988 to 1994, where he participated in over 40 productions and garnered a reputation as one of the country's exceptional vocal coaches.

He formerly served as Assistant Conductor at the Salzburg Festival, the Berlin Staatsoper and the Festival Aix-En-Provence, working with conductors Esa-Pekka Salonen, Daniel Barenboim and Claudio Abbado respectively. He has also prepared choruses for Pierre Boulez, Lorin Maazel, Simon Rattle and Zubin Mehta. Mr. Gershon is in demand as a pianist for such leading singers as Peter Schreier, Rod Gilfry and Audra McDonald, and accompanied Kiri Te Kanawa and Jose Carreras in separate appearances on "The Tonight Show." In addition, he has conducted choral recording sessions for the motion picture sound tracks of I Am Legend, Charlie Wilson's War, Lady in the Water, Click and License to Wed, and recorded vocal solos for The X Files: I Want To Believe. On screen, Mr. Gershon appeared as a pianist in two episodes of the hit television series "Cheers."

He received his bachelor of music degree cum laude in piano performance from USC, and was named USC Thornton School of Music Outstanding Alumnus of the Year in May 2002. He currently serves on the USC Thornton Board of Advisors and the Board of Directors of Chorus America.

Groups Directed

Los Angeles Master Chorale