Beyond the Bowl for Gershon

Many musicians cram multifarious activities into their summer schedules. For young and up-and-coming conductor Grant Gershon, the summer of ’97 has taken him from L.A. to Austria to England and back. His frenzied warm-weather schedule ends this week in Cahuenga Pass.

And something else ends this week as well. Gershon’s three-year appointment as assistant conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. His official final performance comes Thursday at the Hollywood Bowl, conducting the orchestra in a program that concentrates on American music, with singer Frederica von Stade and pianist Marcus Roberts.

The last month has also seen him working as “cover” for conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen at the Salzburg Festival in Austria, rehearsing and performing Gyorgy Ligeti’s “Le Grand Macabre” as staged by Peter Sellars with the Philharmonia Orchestra in the pit.

In fact, it’s that kind of work that Gershon hopes will mark his post-Philharmonic career. Just prior to the Philharmonic post, Gershon, who grew up in Alhambra, was an assistant conductor, principal pianist and repetiteur at L.A. Opera, and he has also worked on a total of six opera or music theater projects with Sellars, including the director’s staging of John Adams’ “I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky,” for which Gershon conducted the world premiere in Berkeley, four other international performances and a recently completed recording of the pop- and jazz-influenced work.

Looking forward, he says, “All of my options are open at the moment. [But] I’m very anxious to put together my own operatic productions, to put together my music and theater. Whatever comes my way, I’m ready to consider it.”

Gershon characterizes his three seasons with the Philharmonic as an “apprenticeship” that allowed him to gain “a whole-world view” of music, in addition to the practical experience of learning new orchestral programs weekly and being ready to conduct them on a moment’s notice.

As open as he is to what fate brings him, there are a few things in ink on his 1997-98 schedule. “I still have a number of scheduled Philharmonic performances during the [upcoming] season,” he says. And he will again spend some time on the road playing recitals with singers. Scheduled at this point is a three-week tour with soprano Kiri Te Kanawa, with whom he traveled last spring, and two performances of Schubert’s “Die Schone Mullerin” with German tenor Peter Schreier. On a private note, Gershon and his wife, soprano Elissa Johnston, plan to change their base of operations by moving from L.A. to Europe.

Variety will definitely mark Gershon’s continuing career. Consider the Bowl program this week: music by Bernstein and Copland, plus folk-song arrangements made by Jake Heggie, all sung by the redoubtable Von Stade, and Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” played by jazz pianist Roberts, with jazz cadenzas and the extra help of bassist Thaddeus Expose and drummer Jason Marsalis.

All this versatility clearly agrees with Gershon, who confesses, “Conducting was not what I set out to do. But, presented with the opportunity, it made sense to me. Of course, I had a lot to learn in a fairly high-profile way in these past three years.

“Now, I’m really enjoying it. I feel that I’m expressing myself and my musical vision.

“But it’s not all completely natural yet. For instance, at the piano, I never break into a sweat. When I conduct, it’s a whole shower.”