Jean Davidson News

Three years ago, after a visit from his longtime collaborator and friend, lyricist and poet Charles Anthony (Tony) Silvestri, composer Eric Whitacre found a poem Silvestri had left for him sitting on his piano. Silvestri had lost his wife to cancer 12 years previously, losing his soul mate and leaving him to bring up their two young children. He had not been able to write about the experience for a long time. The poem he left for Whitacre was called The Veil Opens and Whitacre immediately sat down and began to set it to music. The resulting piece is part of a broader work based on Silvestri's poetry addressing all stages of life and death called The Sacred Veil that will receive its world premiere by the Los Angeles Master Chorale conducted by Whitacre in Walt Disney Concert Hall Saturday, February 16 at 2 PM and Sunday, February 17 at 7 PM.

Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, a dynamic hub for the lively arts and vital community resource, presents the Los Angeles Master Chorale in two performances of Orlando di Lasso's dramatic a cappella masterpiece Lagrime di San Pietro (Tears of St. Peter) directed by Peter Sellars on Saturday, October 20, and Sunday, October 21, 2018, at 7:30 pm, in the Bram Goldsmith Theater at The Wallis. Conducted by the Master Chorale's Associate Conductor Jenny Wong and featuring 21 singers, the production is the first a cappella staging and most personal and emotionally-charged work to date from the acclaimed director's creative mind. Twenty-one singers transform the 75-minute Renaissance masterpiece - committed to memory and dramatically staged - into both a biblical parable of St. Peter's disavowal of Jesus Christ and a contemporary allegory for our fractious times. This marks The Wallis debut of the Master Chorale, whose appearance is part of a 13-city international tour that also includes performances at the Ravinia Festival in Illinois, the Melbourne International Arts Festival in Australia, Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, The Barbican Centre in London and the Cite de la Musique in Paris.

The Los Angeles Master Chorale today announced that it will receive a $1 million gift from philanthropists Kiki and David Gindler. The pledge was announced at the annual meeting of the Master Chorale's Board of Directors held today at The Music Center where the choir is a founding resident company. The meeting was Mr. Gindler's last in his role as Chair of the Board, a position he has held for two three-year terms, the maximum term allowed.

Los Angeles composers feature prominently in the Los Angeles Master Chorale's 55th concert season announced today by Grant Gershon, Kiki and David Gindler Artistic Director, and Jean Davidson, President and CEO. The contemporary works include the world premiere of Eric Whitacre's The Sacred Veil and the West Coast premiere of Reena Esmail's This Love Between Us: Prayers for Unity. All concerts will be performed in Walt Disney Concert Hall where the Master Chorale is choir-in-residence.

Hear Our Voice: A Woman's Journey, a timely new oratorio written by Van Nuys High School students for the Los Angeles Master Chorale's Voices Within Oratorio Project, will be premiered by students and members of the Master Chorale on Friday, February 16 andSaturday, February 17 at the school's auditorium. The Friday performance will be for fellow students. The Saturday performance at 1 PM is presented as a free community concert and is open to the public.

The celestial voices heard on the soundtrack of Star Wars: The Last Jedi released in theaters today are not from a galaxy far, far, away but from the Los Angeles Master Chorale. The Master Chorale was specifically chosen to sing on the soundtrack by the film's legendary composer John Williams.

The Los Angeles Master Chorale has appointed Elizabeth Greenway to the position of Chief Advancement Officer. Greenway will lead the advancement and development initiatives of the Master Chorale, a resident company of The Music Center and the choir-in-residence at Walt Disney Concert Hall led by Artistic Director Grant Gershon and President & CEO Jean Davidson. Greenway will assume her new position on Tuesday, November 28.

The Los Angeles Master Chorale will be inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame on Thursday night during its Lux Aeterna 20th Anniversary celebration concert.  This honor will be accepted by Artistic Director Grant Gershon and President & CEO Jean Davidson on behalf of the Master Chorale from the stage of their iconic home, the Walt Disney Concert Hall. It joins previous esteemed inductees in the ensembles category such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and Handel and Haydn Society.

Artistic leaders and managers of choirs from North America will gather in Los Angeles this month for Chorus America's 2017 Conference held Wednesday, June 21 through Saturday, June 24. The conference is being held at the Omni Hotel on Grand Avenue and is hosted by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, a resident company of The Music Center and choir-in-residence at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Chorus America is a 2,000-member national advocacy, research, and leadership development organization based in Washington, D.C.

The Los Angeles Master Chorale puts spirituals at the forefront of a concert called “Wade in the Water” to be performed at Walt Disney Concert Hall on Sunday, April 30 at 7 PM. The concert features 13 songs with the spirituals juxtaposed with other folk music traditions such as early American shape note singing, as well as a contemporary Korean piece, and a pair of European choral masterpieces from the 20th century. The concert will feature 48 singers performing a cappella, conducted by Artistic Director Grant Gershon and Assistant Conductor Jenny Wong. The concert also provides an opportunity to highlight several of the Master Chorale's solo voices on the program.

The combined vocal force of 1,000 high school students from 30 Southland schools can be heard in a free concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall on Friday, April 21 when the Los Angeles Master Chorale presents the 28th Annual High School Choir Festival. The 1,000-voice Festival choir will be led by Artistic Director Grant Gershon in a varied program that features works by this year's guest artist singer/composer Moira Smiley. Smiley will also teach the massive choir body percussion to accompany one of her songs.

New works, multimedia presentations, performances of choral masterworks, and an expansive state-wide community singing project that will have global reach comprise the Los Angeles Master Chorale's 54th season announced today by Artistic Director Grant Gershon and President and CEO Jean Davidson.

When a group of 85 choral students at Van Nuys High School began learning about World War II Japanese American incarceration camps in September as part of the Los Angeles Master Chorale's Voices Within Oratorio Project, the topic was a historical look back.

The Los Angeles Master Chorale has appointed Andrew Brown as its Chief Operating Officer. This is a job title promotion for Brown who is entering his 16th season with the choir, one of four resident companies at The Music Center. 

Jennifer Scott has been appointed Director of Public Relations of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, a resident company of The Music Center of Los Angeles County, led by Artistic Director Grant Gershon and President & CEO Jean Davidson.

Artistic Director Grant Gershon and President & CEO Jean Davidson announce the 2016-17 season of the Los Angeles Master Chorale (LAMC), one of the world's foremost professional choruses noted for its adventurous programming and artistic excellence, at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Under the artistic leadership of Gershon, the choir's 53rd season includes an ambitious blend of choral masterworks, engaging premieres, a cappella offerings and collaborations with some of today's leading artistic visionaries to create immersive musical experiences. The programming embraces the LA Master Chorale's distinguished history, while building upon its legacy of expanding the choral repertoire by commissioning new works and championing rising and established composers.

New York Arts Executive Jean Davidson, who has been affiliated with some of the country's most innovative and successful arts organizations, has been named President & CEO of the Los Angeles Master Chorale (LAMC), the nation's largest professional chorus and Walt Disney Concert Hall resident chorus led by Artistic Director Grant Gershon and heralded around the globe for its unparalleled artistry, announces LAMC Chair David Gindler. She assumes the post on August 31, 2015. Davidson has served since 2011 as Executive Director & CEO of New York Live Arts, an internationally acclaimed interdisciplinary performing arts center under the artistic direction of Bill T. Jones. Guiding its phenomenal growth and success since its inception, she was instrumental in leading the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company through its merger with Dance Theater Workshop to create New York Live Arts, a new model of artist-led, producing and presenting arts organization unique in the United States. Today New York Live Arts, noted for commissioning cutting-edge new works, its vibrant community partnerships and as home base for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, presents more than 100 performances annually in its theater and studios inside its 20,000-square-foot facility in Chelsea, operating with a $5.8 million budget. Davidson is cited for her forward-thinking management style, fostering artistic innovation, developing and expanding creative partnerships with disparate educational and cultural organizations, and overseeing tremendous revenue development and programmatic growth. She previously served as Executive Director of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in New York City for six years prior to the merger, when the company launched two successful initiatives entitled Partners in Creation and Partners in Education; Managing Director of The Silk Road Project, Inc., a non-profit arts and cultural organization founded by cellist Yo-Yo Ma which during her tenure commissioned 25 chamber works, launched a worldwide tour, released three recordings; and Production Administrator for the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. Davidson replaces LAMC President & CEO Terry Knowles, who steps down at the end of the season following a tremendously successful 15-year tenure with the chorus, during which time the Chorale experienced unsurpassed financial and artistic growth, toured around the world to critical acclaim, released six commercial CDs, created a recording partnership with Decca Classics, and twice received the ASCAP/Chorus America Award for Adventurous Programming as well as Chorus America's prestigious Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence, the nation's highest choral music award. Davidson's appointment comes at a critical time in the Chorale's history, as it is poised to launch its 52nd season and a new period of strategic growth. The national executive search for Knowles' successor was led by Arts Consulting Group, the leading provider of executive search and other services for the arts and culture industry.

New York Live Arts today announced the schedule of its third annual Live Ideas festival, S K Y - Force and Wisdom in America Today, taking place April 15 - 19, 2015. Curated by world renowned visual artist, inventor and performer Laurie Anderson in conjunction with New York Live Arts' Artistic Director Bill T. Jones, the 2015 Live Ideas festival combines the arts and social issues in synergistic ways, activating the New York City community to creatively question the direction of modern culture.

New York Live Arts announced today that Thomas O. Kriegsmann-a New York City based multi-disciplinary producer with over 10 years of experience developing, producing, programming and touring interdisciplinary dance, theater, music and multi-media projects worldwide-will join Live Arts as the Chelsea-based organization's new Director of Programs, beginning November 17, 2014.