Cristian Grases at USC

Venezuela is a fertile if unexpected ground for classical
music. The emergence of Gustavo Dudamel at the helm of the Los
Angeles Philharmonic has brought worldwide attention to the
country’s superb music education programs.

On Friday, the USC Thornton Concert Choir will present its
first concert under the direction of Venezuelan native Cristian
Grases, the new assistant professor of choral music at the USC
Thornton School of Music. An accomplished conductor, composer and
scholar, Grases specializes in multicultural music, particularly
Latin American choral music.

“Having Dudamel here in the city has brought a lot of
attention to the education system in Venezuela,” Grases said.
“There is a long line of great musicians, especially conductors. We
have so many talented kids right now that the competitive level is
very high.”

Grases started his musical studies in Caracas at age 11.
After graduating from Simón Bolívar University in Venezuela, he
earned his doctorate from the University of Miami. He has taught
choral conducting and methods, music history, world music and
general music at Simon Bolivar University, Central Washington
University, the University of Miami and California State
University, Los Angeles.

“In comparison with the orchestral system, we have a smaller
choral movement in Venezuela that has needs and characteristics
that are a little different from the orchestral world,” Grases
said.

While leading a choral ensemble in Venezuela, he couldn’t
find enough music for his choir. “It was difficult to find suitable
music for the choir,” he said. “The normal repertoire didn’t fit
the characteristics of the singers I had in front of me, so I had
to create a lot of new repertoire for them and arrange a lot of
music.”

In Miami, Grases formed a new choir, the Amazonia Vocal
Ensemble, to continue to showcase the music of Latin America. Now
that he is settled in Los Angeles, he sees his project growing into
a partnership between the two cities.

“With the Latin American population in Los Angeles, there is
no Latin American choir,” Grases said. “If we have a sister
ensemble in Miami, the other Latin American focal point, then we
can start creating something interesting. So I’d like to create an
organization that would embrace these two ensembles.”

In addition to the new choir, Grases hopes to open the first
center for Latin American choral music. His vision to turn Los
Angeles into a center for Latin American choral music suits the
ambitious agenda of USC Thornton’s choral program. Under the new
leadership of Jo-Michael Scheibe, chair of the choral music program
at USC Thornton and national president elect of the American Choral
Directors’ Association, the school recently launched the first
Bachelor of Arts program in choral music in the United States.

“Cristian Grases brings renewed energy to the school,”
Scheibe said. “As a teacher, he is demanding, passionate and a fine
scholar. He brings all of these attributes into his rehearsals and
classroom.”

With so many projects already in the works, how has his first
semester been so far? “Well, I’m alive,” Grases said with a laugh.
“It has been an interesting first semester, and we are all quite
exhausted, but we’re getting things done.”

The concert at Alfred Newman Recital Hall will begin Friday
at 8 p.m. (admission is free.) It is a double bill featuring the
USC Thornton Concert Choir and USC Thornton Chamber Singers. Under
the direction of Grases, the choir will present masterworks from
Germany, Italy, Hungary, Venezuela and Argentina.

The chamber singers, led by Scheibe, will present music of
water and light, including works by Thomas Tallis and William Byrd.