Frank La Rocca is a composer of contemporary art music, especially sacred choral music. Trained as an academic modernist during his degree studies at Yale and U.C. Berkeley, he came to see modernism as a barrier to free musical expression and spent many years in search of a personal creative language.
Drawing upon influences as diverse as Josquin, Byrd, Stravinsky, George Crumb and Arvo Pärt, his music has been described as possessing a “luminous beauty” with “a profound sacred sensibility” and as “a modern evocation of the radiant spirituality of ancient chant.”
His catalog includes works in nearly all genres, with a special emphasis on a cappella sacred choral works.
In this interview Frank La Rocca discusses life balance and the role of improvisation in composing.
Website:
Recommended Music:
- Franz Schubert, Die Winterreise
- Igor Stravinsky, Symphony of Psalms
- Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 2
- Gustav Mahler, Das Lied von der Erde
Recommended Books:
- Roger Sessions, The Musical Experience of Composer, Performer, and Listener
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
- Dante Alighieri, Inferno
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[…] Listen to Frank speak on balancing your life and the role of improvisation in Episode 4. […]