JOHN CURRIE TO SUCCEED WAGNER AT CHORALE

John Currie, for 17 years conductor of the Scottish National Orchestra Chorus and since 1983 music director of the Edinburgh Festival Chorus, has been appointed conductor of the Los Angeles Master Chorale.

Currie, 51, will succeed Roger Wagner, who, with the late Z. Wayne Griffin and the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce, founded the Master Chorale in 1964. Wagner, 71, will become conductor laureate upon Currie’s assumption of duties at the beginning of the organization’s 23rd season in the fall of 1986.

The appointment of Currie comes after a 2 1/2-year search by a committee from the board of directors of the Master Chorale Assn., according to Robert Willoughby Jones, the association’s executive director.

Currie was selected from a field of 35 candidates, Jones said Wednesday. “At the end, we had eight top-flight candidates to whom we gave very serious consideration. And there is no doubt in my mind that we have chosen the best one,” he said.

Praising the achievements of the Master Chorale, Currie said: “I am not sure the people of Los Angeles realize just how far the name of this organization reverberates. It is a very famous choir over the world, and justifiably so.”

Currie, a native of Prestwick, Scotland, conducted his Scottish National Orchestra Chorus here when the group performed in Hollywood Bowl and in two local churches in the summer of 1980. At that time, he heard a taped performance by the Master Chorale, led by Carlo Maria Giulini, of Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis.” Otherwise, Currie told The Times, he has not heard the Master Chorale live.

Formerly on the faculties of the universities of Glasgow and Leicester, Currie at one time was conductor of four major choral organizations: the Edinburgh Festival Chorus, Scottish Opera Chorus, Scottish National Orchestra Chorus and the John Currie Singers.

Now a free-lance conductor--he continues his work with the Edinburgh Festival Chorus through a series of one-year contracts--Currie says he will have no permanent nor official relationship with any other musical organization than the Master Chorale when he comes to live in Los Angeles in September, 1986.

“The post of music director of the chorale is, and should be, a big, round musical job,” Currie said. “I will be an old-fashioned music director, an in-house conductor.

“Of course, I will accept a certain amount of guest engagements--that is to be expected. But my commitment here will be a full one.” Currie’s contract as music director of the Master Chorale runs for five years.

Regarding new directions for the Master Chorale, Currie and Jones indicated that some of Currie’s specialties, such as new music, music by British composers and specifically commissioned works, might show up on his programs.

“We are already planning the 1986-87 season, and looking at seasons beyond that,” Currie said.

“Two of the works we are talking about pairing for that first season are Elgar’s ‘Dream of Gerontius’ and Brahms’ Requiem,” Jones reported.

Currie said he would like “to look into the possibility of commissioned works. We are also talking about a series of chamber concerts, sung by a Bach-size choir, and away from the Music Center, in smaller halls appropriate to that repertory.”

As an orchestral conductor, Currie in recent years has appeared as a guest on the podiums of the Jerusalem Symphony, the Israel Sinfonietta, the National Orchestra of Belgium, the Bournemouth Sinfonietta and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

Wagner’s 22nd (and final) season as music director of the Master Chorale opens Nov. 9. Announced as a season during which candidates for the job of music director would appear as guest conductors, the 1985-86 concert year now becomes a showcase for three former candidates for the post--William Hall, Paul Salamunovich and Paul Hill.

Asked if the timing of the announcement of Currie’s appointment might be embarrassing to these three conductors, Jones said, “I doubt that. They know we gave all of them serious consideration.