By Mike MartinezAfter an impressive 33-year tenure as a music professor at California Lutheran University, Wyant Morton is set to retire this May, leaving behind a legacy that has deeply influenced the university’s musical landscape.
“I am proud to have offered a high-quality music-making experience over the years for the thousands of student musicians who sang in the Cal Lutheran choirs,” he said. “While I have geared the repertoire and work level to our music majors, I am equally proud to have had so many non-music majors on this musical journey with me.”
Morton’s path to choral music wasn’t straightforward. He began his musical journey as a trumpet player, earning an undergraduate degree in trumpet performance. He didn’t get involved in choral music until late in college but quickly transitioned from instrumental to vocal music, starting a master’s degree in choral conducting the next year.
Throughout his time at Cal Lutheran, Morton has been honored with several awards, including the Honorary Alumni Award, President’s Award for Teaching Excellence and Professor of the Year. He attributes his success to his dedication to mentoring his students.
It warms my heart when former students tell me that I was a good teacher and that I had a positive impact on their lives
Wyant Morton
“I have always tried to meet my students where they are, yet challenge them as musicians and artists to be their best every day.”
Cal Lutheran alumna Janna Santangelo ’11, choir director and chair of the Visual & Performing Arts Department at Thousand Oaks High School, is one of many who have felt Morton’s impact.
“Dr. Morton is an incredible musician, mentor and educator,” Santangelo said. “I have taken so much of what I learned from him and applied it to my own teaching — and that is partially why I think I can be an effective educator and choral conductor myself.”
One of Morton’s significant contributions to Cal Lutheran is the annual New Music Concerts, which he helped start in 2003. These concerts have featured collaborations with renowned composers such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Henry Brant, Steven Stucky, David Lang, Eric Whitacre and Morten Laurisden. A particularly memorable concert brought Salonen to campus, culminating in a performance of his “Five Images After Sappho,” which the Los Angeles Times described as “persuasive.”
“I have always had an interest in new music,” Morton said. “Over the years, I have worked with composers many times, bringing their music to life with the students in the (Cal Lutheran) Choirs. I feel a responsibility to give voice to the works of living composers.”
In 2009, Morton founded the Areté Vocal Ensemble, a professional-level chamber choir comprising students, alumni, faculty and local singers. He envisioned an ensemble with a professional model, requiring singers to come to rehearsals prepared and featuring them as soloists. During the past 15 years, Areté has enriched the community with its artistry and has collaborated with organizations like the Los Angeles Opera and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Morton’s influence extends beyond music, fostering deep relationships within the university and the broader choral community.
“That Wyant Morton is a first-rate musician is incontestable,” said John Nunes, Cal Lutheran’s interim president. “But the evidence goes beyond this. His virtuosity extends to being a builder of long-standing relationships, enduring choral community partnerships and endearing friendships.”
As he prepares for retirement, Morton said he cherishes the special memories created at local venues and on international stages.
The most meaningful moments for me during my 33 years at CLU are the hundreds of concerts I have performed with my students.
Wyant Morton
“Whether in Samuelson Chapel on campus or on tour in the U.S. or abroad, the musical memories are what have brought me joy and will stay with me all of my life.”
Looking ahead, Morton plans to continue his musical journey. He will remain active as the conductor of the Areté Vocal Ensemble, director of the New West Symphony Chorus and director of the choir at Ascension Lutheran Church. He also looks forward to pursuing other interests when he eventually steps away from conducting.
“Although I am retiring, I am not ready to be finished being a musician,” he said. “So yes, you will still see me around!”
Morton said he hopes his students carry with them a love for and an understanding of the unique and collaborative nature of music. He’s also grateful for the support from the university administration, which has allowed him the artistic freedom to explore his interests.
“If there is anything that my students take away from their experience in the Cal Lutheran choirs, I hope it is a love for music making,” Morton said. “Not just loving to listen to music, but a love for making music with others, and having an understanding of how special that experience is, and that it is not something we can do alone.”
Reflecting on a recent highlight at Cal Lutheran, Morton recalls the 2024 Homecoming concert, which was special not just for him, but for the alumni and current students who now have a better understanding of the musical lineage they are part of.
“The experience at Homecoming this year with over 150 alumni singers performing with me was amazing,” Morton said. “I am so grateful to have shared that weekend with them. It was meaningful to me that so many of them came back to sing and I know that it was meaningful for them too — not because of me necessarily, but because of the experience of making music with each other again.”
As he passes the baton, Morton said he is optimistic about the future of choral music at the university.
“As I retire, I hope the future of choral music at Cal Lutheran remains strong,” he said. “I will look forward to seeing and hearing the new ideas and directions that my successor will bring to the CLU choral ensembles.”
