The Los Angeles Master Chorale, the resident chorus of Walt Disney Concert Hall, announced Thursday that it has named a new president and chief executive.
Jean Davidson, executive director of New York Live Arts, will assume the post on Aug. 31, at the start of the chorale’s 52nd season.
Davidson is cited for a forward-thinking management style, fostering artistic innovation, developing creative partnerships with disparate educational and cultural organizations, and overseeing revenue growth, said LAMC Chair David Gindler.
“It is a great honor to be asked to lead the Los Angeles Master Chorale,” Davidson said. “There has never been more creativity and talent, at least in my lifetime, energizing the field of choral music as there is now.”
“On a personal level, I was deeply moved the first time I heard the chorale live at Walt Disney Concert Hall,” she said. “It was one of those rare moments when the entire world stood still, and I was inside of this magical moment. It is moments like these that lift us out of our day-to-day worries, suspend our differences and unite us in our humanness. I think these moments are desperately important in our culture today.”
Davidson replaces Terry Knowles, who steps down at the end of the season following 15 years with LAMC. During Knowles’ tenure, the chorale toured around the world, released six CDs and twice received the ASCAP/Chorus America Award for Adventurous Programming, as well as Chorus America’s Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence, the nation’s most prestigious choral music award, Gindler said.
— City News Service