Music Director Retires After 36 Years

By SARAH SHMERLING | Managing Editor

After a 36-year career at St. Matthew’s Church, Thomas Neenan is retiring.

Music Director Neenan, who co-founded The Chamber Orchestra at St. Matthew’s, said he plans to keep teaching at Caltech and will continue doing lectures for the LA Philharmonic, New West Symphony and other arts organizations while retired.

“I will also be serving as president of the board of directors of St. Matthew’s Guild,” Neenan told the Palisadian-Post. “Beyond that, I hope to spend more time with family and friends, traveling, playing golf, and perhaps, I will pursue some innovative teaching opportunities.”

Looking back at his career, Neenan praised the family atmosphere of working in Pacific Palisades.

“It is wonderful working within a fairly small geographic community because you really get to know a lot of people and see them on a regular basis, something that wouldn’t happen quite so much in, say Pasadena or somewhere downtown,” he explained.

He said that the challenge of working in the area is “making oneself relevant and attractive enough so as to continue doing what we are called to do and want to do.”

Dr. Dwayne S. Milburn will fill Neenan’s position beginning in the fall of 2018.

“He has a fantastic résumé and is known to many in the community,” Neenan said of Milburn.

St. Matthew’s is in the process of hiring an interim choir director for the 2017-18 season, and the Music Guild recently identified Tomasz Golka, conductor of the Riverside Philharmonic, as interim music director and conductor for next year.

“I want everyone to know how grateful I am for the love, support and encouragement I have enjoyed for the past 36 years,” Neenan shared. “St. Matthew’s and the Palisades are wonderful communities, and it has been a joy and a pleasure to work here.”

Neenan’s last show as conductor and music director will be St. Matthew’s Music Guild’s final show of its 32nd season of concerts in Pacific Palisades on June 2 at 7:30 p.m. The show will feature a performance of Franz Joseph Haydn’s “The Creation,” as well as soloists Harriet Fraser, Steve Pence and Jon Lee Keenan, the Choir of St. Matthew’s Parish and guest singers who have been featured in past concerts.

And as far as next season?

“I am very much looking forward to attending the concerts and hearing our fabulous orchestra from the perspective of the audience,” Neenan shared.

To purchase tickets, call 310-573-7421 or visit musicguildonline.org.