I’m greatly encouraged by the news that a major international music award has been won by my friend, Frank LaRocca, who was recently interviewed for the St. Austin Review by our regular music columnist, Susan Treacy..
Frank, a revert to the Faith after decades in the wilderness, won the prestigious award for his Miserere, which is being performed at Carnegie Hall on May 23 and at the Cathedral in Washington DC on Wednesday of Holy Week. 
After a career in the world of secular classical music Mr La Rocca returned to the Catholic faith after 42 years. For the past 10 years his works have been primarily a cappella sacred texts. Mr. La Rocca recently won The Khorikos International New Music Competition which included over 600 applicants from around the world. This was a not a Catholic or a sacred music contest, but a contest of new works by living composers.  The piece which won the contest, Miserere,is being performed at at Carnegie Hall May 23. He also won a prize for his CREDO from the Sacred Arts Foundation in 2010, and has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the California Arts Council.
The Cathedral in Washington D.C. is performing Miserere for Tenebrae Mass this Holy Wednesday. The choice by music director Thomas Stehle  to perform Miserere occurred prior to the presentation of the award. He has previously performed the composer’s O Magnum Mysterium at the Cathedral.
Mr. La Rocca’s recent CD  In This Place, which includes Miserere,  was selected as a Critic’s Choice for 2013 by Lindsay Koob at American Record Guide https://www.blogger.com/profile/11647996559368071461
This same CD was the listed in the top 10 most popular classical music CDs on Amazon in August 2013.  http://www.amazon.com/This-Place-Artists-Vocal-Ensemble/dp/B00AOCMRX2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1391995403&sr=8-2&keywords=In+this+Place
Mr. LaRocca is currently composing polyphonic Communion Propers for the Lumen Christi Missal by Illuminare Publications  https://illuminarepublications.com/choral-propers-from-frank-la-rocca/
St Rita’s parish of Dallas Texas has commissioned Mr. La Rocca to compose an oratory of the life of St Rita. St Rita’s parish is a large parish with a thriving Fine Arts ministry http://www.stritaparish.net/index.cfm?load=page&page=80
Mr. La Rocca has been a guest lecturer at Notre Dame and at UC Berkeley speaking on the The Apologetics of Beauty  http://blogs.nd.edu/sacredmusicnd/2012/11/19/the-apologetics-of-beauty/
Mr. La Rocca is a Professor of musical composition and Theory at CSUEB, in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Below is a portion of a review and a beautiful video of his setting of O Magnum Mysterium:
“Like fellow Americans Whitacre and Lauridsen [his music will] appeal to anyone who responds to the mystical, ecstatic sacred music of these two masters of the genre. On consideration of the works included here, La Rocca should almost certainly be considered their peer…It is hard to figure why this recognition has been so long in coming.” 

“Thanks to Enharmonic records for letting us finally hear Frank La Rocca’s music; this is a lovely release, filled with superbly crafted and achingly beautiful music…”

Ronald E. Grames 
Fanfare Magazine