Frank La Rocca is Composer-in-Residence at the Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Liturgy, and teaches a summer course at St. Patrick's Seminary and University.

 

His Mass of the Americas, has been hailed as "Perhaps the most significant Catholic composition of our lifetimes." (Michael Olbash), and " the best liturgical music for the Mass since Duruflé." (Michael Linton). He is also the recent winner of the ORTUS international choral composition competition, and was awarded  a 2018 American Prize for his A Rose In Winter – the life of St. Rita of Cascia, a major work for chorus, orchestra and soloists. A complete list of works can be seen at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_La_Rocca

 

La Rocca’s commissions for the Benedict XVI Institute also include Requiem for the Forgotten, Messe des Malades, Missa Sancti Juniperi Serra and Missa Pange Lingua. He has received grants, commissions and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, California Arts Council, the Foundation for Sacred Arts, and many others. The Cappella Records disc of Mass of the Americas debuted at #1 on the Billboard Classical charts, as did that of Requiem for the Forgotten/Messe des Malades. Mass of the Americas ranked in the annual Top Ten for 2022.

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His CD In This Place (Enharmonic Records) reached the top ten in classical CD sales on Amazon and was a 2013 "Critic's Choice" at American Record Guide.

 

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. His catalog includes works in all genres, with an emphasis on a cappella sacred choral works. At a recent University of Notre Dame conference, "James MacMillan: The Musical Modes of Mary and the Cross", La Rocca presented a talk entitled, "The Apologetics of Beauty: a Musical Theology of the Incarnation", based upon his choral work O Magnum Mysterium. 

 

He is published by Boosey and Hawkes, Walton Music, Santa Barbara Music and Lumen Verum Music.