Frank La Rocca was born in 1951 in New Jersey. He studied at Yale and at the University of California at Berkeley. His early musical experiences ranged from classical piano to playing electronic keyboards in various rock and blues bands. He began composing at age 14. His teachers included Edwin Dugger, Olly Wilson, Andrew Imbrie, Jonathan Kramer, Frank Lewin and John Mauceri. He has received grants and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and the California Arts Council, and a Young Composers Award from ASCAP.[1] He was a 2018 American Prize winner for the oratorio, "A Rose in Winter – the life of St. Rita of Cascia".[2] Critic and composer Michael Linton said of 'Mass of the Americas', that it is "the best liturgical composition for the Mass since Duruflé."[3] In the album notes of the album, William P. Mahrt, scholar of early music and president of the Church Music Association of America, writes: “Variety, ingenuity, sheer compositional skill, and liturgical suitability have made these compositions in The Mass of the Americas destined to be classics.” [4] Composer and former music professor Martin Rokeach, wrote a review of La Rocca's Messe des Malades which concluded: “Masterpiece is not a word to be used casually, but to my understanding and my ear this Messe des Malades stands should to shoulder with the great masterworks of the Renaissance.” [5]
Trained as an academic modernist during his degree studies at Yale and University of California, Berkeley, La Rocca came to see this approach as a barrier to authentic musical expression, and spent many years in search of a personal creative language.[6]
A composer of works for both the concert stage and liturgy, one finds considerable common ground between these two in works like Veni Sancte Spiritus, for soprano, clarinet and baroque string quartet. La Rocca regards himself in the role of "an advocate for a distinctively Christian faith – not through direct persuasion, but through the beauty of music".[7] He was named Composer-in-Residence at the Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Liturgy in 2018.
La Rocca's music has been performed in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and Uganda. Performers include the California Symphony, Oakland Symphony, Lumen Valo, soprano Christine Brandes, Strata, Benedict XVI Singers, Artists Vocal Ensemble, Schola Cantorum of the London Oratory School, Young Women's Chorus of San Francisco, Cathedral Choral Society, San Francisco Girls Chorus, Prague Radio – Choir and Orchestra, Alexander String Quartet and others . His music is published by Boosey & Hawkes, Walton Music, Santa Barbara Music Publishers and Lumen Verum Music.
He is recorded on Cappella Records, Enharmonic Records, CRI, CRS, SCI, and ERM Media. Cappella's 2022 release of Mass of the Americas, produced by 11-time Grammy Award-winner Blanton Alspaugh, was in the Billboard Top Ten Traditional Classical albums for 2022.
Frank La Rocca taught music theory and composition at California State University, East Bay from 1981–2014.
