For over 60 years, the Grammy-Award winning Los Angeles Master Chorale has been a standard-bearer for choruses across America. Hailed for its powerful performances, technical precision and artistic daring, the Chorale reaches more than 175,000 people a year through its concert series at Walt Disney Concert Hall, its international touring of innovative works and its performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and others.
Led by Grant Gershon, Kiki & David Gindler Artistic Director; Associate Artistic Director Jenny Wong; and President & CEO Scott Altman, the Master Chorale was named “the finest-by-far major chorus in America” by the Los Angeles Times. From intimate performances with just six or eight singers to full-scale collaborations featuring 100 voices, it consistently thrills audiences with its versatility and artistic depth, performing early choral works alongside pop classics and modern pieces as well as exclusive commissions from the world’s most innovative composers.
Voices of Master Chorale singers have been featured on numerous film scores including Star Wars – The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, Wicked, How to Train Your Dragon, Fantastic Four and Superman (2025) as well as on the 2025 Academy Awards, which was broadcast to over 19 million viewers around the world.
Recently, the Chorale toured its productions Heinrich Schütz’s Music to Accompany a Departure and Orlando di Lasso’s Lagrime di San Pietro, both directed by Peter Sellars, earning rave reviews across the globe. Süddeutsche Zeitung called performance of Lagrime di San Pietro “painfully beautiful,” while the Sydney Morning Herald praised Lagrime di San Pietro as “stunning … Their voices soared to the heavens.” After the Chorale performed in London, The Stage called Lagrime a “balm for the soul.” In his review of Music to Accompany a Departure, Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times called the Chorale’s performance, “transcendent” and “incomparably moving.”
Created by legendary conductor Roger Wagner in 1964, the Chorale is a founding resident company of The Music Center and choir-in-residence at Walt Disney Concert Hall. It has an industry-defining commitment to fostering new music and has commissioned composers including Louis Andriessen, Jeff Beal, Eve Beglarian, Reena Esmail, Gabriella Lena Frank, Shawn Kirchner, David Lang, Morten Lauridsen, Tania Leon, Meredith Monk, Steve Reich, Ellen Reid, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Derrick Skye, Moira Smiley, Dale Trumbore, Chinary Ung and Eric Whitacre. In 2023, the Chorale launched 25 in 5, an initiative to commission 25 new works over the course of 5 seasons. Composers featured in this series to date include Doug Aitken, Billy Childs, Saunder Choi, Jason Max Ferdinand, Ernesto Herrera, Marques L. A. Garrett, Zanaida Stewart Robles, Carlos Simon, Rufus Wainwright and Hyowon Woo. The Chorale also enjoys a close relationship with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In this role, the Chorale has appeared on numerous recent Grammy Award-winning recordings with Gustavo Dudamel, including Mahler’s 8th Symphony, Gabriela Ortiz’ Revolución diamantina, and Thomas Ades’ Dante.
The Master Chorale’s renowned education programs include Voices Within residencies, where students find their creative voices to write and perform their own songs, and the expansive Oratorio Project for high school students. The Chorale also presents the annual High School Choir Festival, a yearlong program that culminates with teenagers from around the Southland performing in Walt Disney Concert Hall. In May 2025, the High School Choir Festival celebrated 36 years as one of the longest-running and widest-reaching arts education programs in Southern California. The Chorale’s newest education program, Youth Chorus LA, launched in the 2024/25 season bringing free music and choral lessons to students grades 3 to 6, which prepares future generations of choral singers and uplifts communities through the transformative power of choral music.
SEPTEMBER 2025
