Grant Gershon
Artistic Director
About this Artist
Grammy Award-winning conductor Grant Gershon, Kiki & David Gindler Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, has been hailed for his adventurous and bold artistic leadership, and for eliciting technically impeccable and emotionally committed performances. The Los Angeles Times has proclaimed the Chorale “the best-by-far chorus in America” under Grant, a reflection on both his programming and performances. In April 2022, Chorus America honored Grant with the Michael Korn Founders Award for Development of the Professional Choral Art, in recognition of his career-spanning leadership in the field of choral music.
In July of 2023, Grant and the Chorale made a triumphant return to the famed Salzburg Festival with Music to Accompany a Departure (Heinrich Schütz), directed by Peter Sellars. About the performances, the Süddeutsche Zeitung declared “Everything is warmth, radiance and emotion,” and the Augsburger Allgemein wrote “And what a choir! Flawless intonation…light-flooded transparency and an almost unearthly tonal richness.” In 2025, the Chorale will tour this groundbreaking production to Paris and Brussels.
Grant enjoys a close working relationship with many of the leading opera composers of our time, including his long-time friend and collaborator John Adams. He led the world premiere performances of Adams’ opera Girls of the Golden West and of his theater piece I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky. Adams wrote his two-piano masterpiece Hallelujah Junction for Grant, who premiered it with fellow pianist Gloria Cheng. Grant also led the world premieres of two operas that have quickly become classics: Daniel Catán’s Il Postino (for LA Opera) and Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath (for Minnesota Opera).
Grant has led more than 200 performances with the LA Master Chorale at Walt Disney Concert Hall in programs encompassing an enormous range of choral music, from the early pillars of the repertoire to newly commissioned works. With the Chorale, Grant has led world premiere performances of major works by composers including Michael Abels, Louis Andriessen, Jeff Beal, Eve Beglarian, Billy Childs, Reena Esmail, Gabriela Lena Frank, Ricky Ian Gordon, Shawn Kirchner, David Lang, Morten Lauridsen, Steve Reich, Ellen Reid, Christopher Rouse, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Chinary Ung.
In addition to the Grammy Award-winning (Best Choral Performance) Mahler: Symphony No. 8 with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Grant’s discography with the Chorale includes recordings of music by Nico Muhly, Henrik Gorecki, David Lang, and Steve Reich for Decca, Nonesuch, and Cantaloupe Records. He has also led the Chorale in performances for several major motion-picture soundtracks, including, at the request of John Williams, Star Wars: The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. On DVD, he has recorded and filmed Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and Daniel Catán’s Il Postino with LA Opera for Sony Classical.
As Resident Conductor of LA Opera for several seasons, Gershon led the West Coast premiere of Philip Glass’s Satyagraha in November 2018. He made his acclaimed company debut with La Traviata in 2009 and subsequently conducted productions of Il Postino (world premiere), Madama Butterfly, Carmen, Florencia en el Amazonas, Wonderful Town, The Tales of Hoffmann, Tosca, The Pearl Fishers, and The Magic Flute. Grant has frequently led opera performances with the National Symphony Orchestra at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts—most recently, La Bohème in the summer of 2024.
In New York, Grant has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and the historic Trinity Wall Street. He has been featured 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; Teatro Colon in Buenos Aries; the Barbican in London; and the Paris Philharmonie. He has worked closely with numerous legendary conductors, including Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez, James Conlon, Gustavo Dudamel, Zubin Mehta, Simon Rattle, and his mentor, Esa-Pekka Salonen.