Los Angeles Master Chorale Appoints Jennifer Scott Director of Public Relations

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.

Scott begins her new role September 2. She moves to Los Angeles from Charleston, South Carolina where she has been the Director of Marketing and Public Relations for Spoleto Festival USA for the past two years.

Scott was formerly a senior publicist at New York City-based Shuman Associates, Inc. working with clients such as the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, The Cleveland Orchestra, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, pianists Jonathan Biss and Inon Barnatan, and on national public relations for Spoleto Festival USA. Prior to joining the festival staff she was Communications Manager for the Las Vegas Philharmonic and has an extensive background in arts publicity and as a magazine editor and journalist in her native New Zealand.

The Director of Public Relations position is new for the Los Angeles Master Chorale and part of a broader re-branding and re-positioning strategy being implemented under Davidson's leadership. Gary W. Murphy continues as Public Relations Consultant for the 2016/17 Season.

"Jennifer is a superb communicator, creative thinker, and experienced publicist in the performing arts," said Davidson. "The Los Angeles Master Chorale is operating at an incredibly high artistic level, yet so many people still do not know about us. Jennifer is the ideal person to connect with external audiences and enhance our growing national reputation."

The Los Angeles Master Chorale's 2016/17 season begins October 29 and 30 with a Peter Sellars-directed staging of Lagrime di San Pietro (Tears of St. Peter) by Orlando di Lasso at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The performance will be conducted by Gershon and features 21 a cappella singers, marking the first time Sellars has directed an a cappella work.

Giving a voice to Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Grammy-nominated Los Angeles Master Chorale is led by Artistic Director Grant Gershon and President & CEO Jean Davidson. Proclaimed "the nation's most pioneering major chorus" (Los Angeles Times), it has also been hailed as "inspired" (New York Times), "magnificent" (Chicago Tribune) and "a superb vocal ensemble" (New York Observer). The Master Chorale was founded in 1964 as a resident company of The Music Center of Los Angeles County and the 2016/17 season marks its 14th as the resident chorus at Disney Hall. Presenting its own concert series each season, it performs choral music from the earliest writings to the most recent contemporary compositions. To date, the chorus has commissioned 50 and premiered 99 new works, of which 69 were world premieres, and has been awarded three ASCAP/Chorus America Awards for Adventurous Programming as well as Chorus America's prestigious Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence. The chorus has performed in more than 500 concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at both Disney Hall and the Hollywood Bowl, and has toured with the orchestra to Europe and New York City. It has also appeared at the Ojai Music Festival, the Great Performers series at Lincoln Center, the Ravinia Festival and the Overture Center in Madison, Wisconsin, as well as in leading venues throughout the Southland. Its discography includes six commercial CDs under Gershon's baton, and in summer 2016, the chorus releases its seventh recording and its first album on Cantaloupe Music, featuring the national anthems by Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award-winning composer David Lang, which was commissioned and premiered by the chorus in 2014. The chorus previously released three CDs under former Music Director Paul Salamunovich on RCM, including the Grammy-nominated Lauridsen-Lux Aeterna. The chorus is also featured with Gershon on the soundtracks of such major motion pictures as Lady in the Water and License to Wed. Serving more than 30,000 audience members of all ages annually, the chorus also provides education outreach to some 9,000 students and adults each year.