Grant Gershon Renews Contract as L.A. Opera's Resident Conductor

Plácido Domingo announced today that Grant Gershon has renewed his contract as Resident Conductor of LA Opera through the end of the 2019/20 season.

"Grant has made a profound impact on LA Opera's artistic profile over the past decade, and I could not be happier that he will continue his extraordinary work here in the seasons to come," said Mr. Domingo. "Whether he's conducting a production or preparing our chorus, we have been fortunate to have Grant take part in virtually every mainstage production since 2007. Considering his distinguished additional work with our Music Center colleagues at the Los Angeles Philharmonic and, especially, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, his dedication to the classical music scene of his hometown is truly special."

"Over the last few years, Los Angeles has become the most exciting and innovative place in the country for the performing arts," said Mr. Gershon. "I'm very proud of LA Opera's role in this transformation and I'm thrilled to help further the artistic growth of the company. It's a tremendous honor to work with our world-class chorus and orchestra, and to serve with our phenomenal leadership team of Plácido Domingo, James Conlon and Christopher Koelsch."

About Grant Gershon
Grant Gershon made his highly acclaimed LA Opera conducting debut in 2009 with La Traviata, about which the Los Angeles Times declared that he "proved an exacting, sensitive, deeply involving Verdi conductor." In 2010, he conducted the world premiere of Daniel Catán's Il Postino, which was broadcast on PBS on Great Performances and released on DVD by Sony Classical. He has now conducted 11 different productions at LA Opera as well as several concerts. He has also prepared the LA Opera Chorus for 51 different works since his debut as Chorus Director with Fidelio in 2007.

The 2017/18 season will mark Mr. Gershon's 17th season as the Kiki and David Gindler Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, hailed by the Los Angeles Times as "the most exciting chorus in the country under Gershon's leadership." The Chorale was recently inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame. He has also conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic on numerous occasions. In December of 2016, he earned the singular distinction of conducting all three of the Music Center's classical music resident companies within the span of 14 days, leading performances of Wonderful Town for LA Opera, El Niño for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Festival of Carols for the Master Chorale.

Next week (July 14), he will conduct Tosca at Wolf Trap Opera with the National Symphony Orchestra. In the coming season, in addition to leading numerous performances for the Los Angeles Master Chorale, he will conduct performances of The Pearl Fishers for LA Opera and make his San Francisco Opera debut conducting the world premiere of Girls of the Golden West by John Adams.

He has additionally appeared as guest conductor with the Santa Fe Opera, San Francisco Symphony, Ravinia Festival, Baltimore Symphony, Houston Grand Opera, Minnesota Opera, Utah Opera, Swedish Royal Opera, Juilliard Opera Theatre, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Gustav Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Finnish chamber orchestra Avanti!, and the Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro Regio in Torino, among others.

Grant Gershon grew up in Los Angeles. He was born in Norwalk, raised in Alhambra and studied at both Chapman University and the University of Southern California, where he was named Outstanding Alumnus of the Thornton School of Music in 2002 and received the USC Alumni Merit Award in 2017.