Los Angeles Master Chorale Music Director Emeritus Paul Salamunovich dies at age 86

LOS ANGELES MASTER CHORALE MUSIC DIRECTOR EMERITUS

PAUL SALAMUNOVICH DIES AT AGE 86

(June 7, 1927 – April 3, 2014)

Los Angeles, CA – April 3, 2014 – Acclaimed Grammy®-nominated choral conductor and Los Angeles Master Chorale (LAMC) Music Director Emeritus Paul Salamunovich, whose artistry touched millions of people around the world through recordings, live performances, college and university clinics, and the numerous film scores on which he conducted and sang, has died at age 86 from multiple complications due to West Nile virus.

The California native and long-time North Hollywood resident was Music Director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale from 1991 to 2001, Director of Choral Music at St. Charles Borromeo Church in North Hollywood for 60 years (1949-2009), an esteemed music educator who held academic posts at Mount St. Mary’s College and Loyola Marymount University, and an adjunct professor at the USC Thornton School of Music. 

His death comes in the midst of the Chorale’s 50th Anniversary Season, which opened with a multi-media retrospective concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall highlighting the signature works associated with each of the four music directors who have led the Chorale since its inception in 1964, including for Salamunovich Gregorian chant, works by Maurice Duruflé, Morten Lauridsen’s O Magnum Mysterium and the remarkably prescient hymn The Lord Bless You and Keep You.

“All of us in the Los Angeles Master Chorale family mourn the loss of Paul Salamunovich and extend loving condolences to the entire Salamunovich extended family,” said LAMC President and CEO Terry Knowles.  “Paul’s impact on the Chorale was long, deep and powerful.  Any success our organization enjoys today is rooted in Paul’s artistic leadership.  We honor his memory, and we will never forget him.”

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