Kenneth Sanson
A Southern Californian by birth, education, and long residence, Kenneth
Sanson has been a musician all of his adult life -- variously as a choral
conductor, solo tenor, college-level instructor, and critic. He received
his B.A. degree from Occidental College, and his M.S. from the University
of Southern California in Los Angeles. From 1959-1966 he was a member of
the Roger Wagner Chorale (where colleagues included Carol Neblett and
Marilyn Horne), California's counterpart of the Robert Shaw Chorale. With
this distinguished professional chorus, based in Los Angeles, K.S. made six
recordings and five tours (three throughout the U.S., a fourth to Japan,
and the fifth through Central and South America). From 1962-5, he was also
manager of the choral department of Keynote Music Service.
As a two-year Fellow (1965-6) in the Rockefeller Foundation's program at
USC/LA for the training of music critics, he transferred to Chicago for
his second year on site. From 1966 until 1973, K.S. was associate music
critic of the Chicago American (later Chicago's American,
terminally Chicago Today). From 1969 through 1982 he also taught
at the American Conservatory of Music: Music Appreciation, Aesthetics,
Criticism, and Choral Conducting. He was conductor of both the ACM
Concert Choir and the Chamber Singers in repertory covering four centuries.
He has also reviewed for the Los Angeles Times, the Long Beach
Press-Telegram (1983-8), and most recently for In Tune magazine
(1994-8). During his podium career he has directed the choirs in seven
churches including Los Angeles' Westwood Presbyterian Church, and the
Presbyterian Church of Western Springs, near Chicago. Currently he is
Director of Music at the First United Methodist Church of San Pedro, in
the L.A. area, and lives in his birth city of South Pasadena. Honors
include his listing in Who's Who in America.