The Los Angeles Master Chorale has built up a community of collaborators by now. The ensemble’s upcoming season, announced last week, continues to draw on these creative partnerships, some relatively recent and some with decades of history behind them.
The highlight of the 2022–2023 schedule is another project with Peter Sellars. The director is applying his winning formula with the Master Chorale — which got going with an acclaimed production of Lagrime di San Pietro in 2016 — to the next early-music masterpiece, Henrich Schütz’s Musikalische Exequien (Funeral music). Sellars’s staging, titled Music to Accompany a Departure, will be a one-night-only event, Nov. 20 at the choir’s regular venue, Walt Disney Concert Hall.
It's a fitting undertaking for the Master Chorale and Artistic Director Grant Gershon, who’s entering his 21st year at the head of the ensemble. The conductor got his start on the podium after working with Sellars and Esa-Pekka Salonen, then the newly appointed LA Phil music director, at the Salzburg Festival in 1992.
Gershon leads seven of the eight programs this season, from Haydn’s The Creation (Oct. 8 and 9) to music that waxes poetic (Feb. 12, 2023) to concerts of sacred works by jazz composers (June 10 and 11, 2023).
Associate Artistic Director Jenny Wong shares the conducting duties for a performance on March 26, 2023, showcasing another of the Master Chorale’s rising stars. The program pairs Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem with a big, new work by Reena Esmail, the choir’s Swan Family artist-in-residence.
Wong also conducts her own concert (Dec. 11), which takes the classical carol “Lo, How a Rose” as the starting point for a largely contemporary setlist. Favorite holiday programs are returning too, from the popular “Festival of Carols” (Dec. 10 and 17) to a performance of Handel’s Messiah (Dec. 18).
For the complete 2022–2023 schedule, visit the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s website. Subscription tickets, on sale now, are available online and by phone at (213) 972-7282.
