Since 1991, the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers have thrilled audiences in Minnesota and around the world with brilliant choral music ranging from richly dramatic to wildly humorous. An auditioned, professional mixed chorus of 32 voices, the Ensemble Singers shine under the skilled direction of Philip Brunelle and Sigrid Johnson.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune described the Ensemble Singers as producing a “luxuriant sound…performing with tonal purity and technical mastery” and singing with “resonance, a true sense of ensemble and expert diction.” The London Times heralded the group as “a superb American choir…an engaging group, polished, bright and brilliantly balanced.”

The Ensemble Singers possess the flexibility to interpret a wide choral vocabulary, singing music from the Renaissance era with as much confidence as world premieres written expressly for their voices by Dominick Argento, Carol Barnett, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, Aaron Jay Kernis, Libby Larsen, Stephen Paulus and Alvin Singleton.

International audiences recognize the Ensemble Singers from their extensive European tours, broadcasts via the European Broadcasting Union and two invitation-only appearances at the World Choral Symposium (1999 and 2002), the choral music world’s most prestigious global gathering.

Best known throughout the United States for their frequent guest appearances on the nationally broadcast public radio program A Prairie Home Companion, the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers are featured on two recent CDs with Garrison Keillor: Over the River & Through the Woods and Hymn to Potatoes (and other choral masterpieces from A Prairie Home Companion). Clarion Records distributes The WITNESS Collection, a 4-CD set on which the Ensemble Singers perform music written by African American composers between 1900-1990.

Auditions are held by appointment only. To schedule an audition, call 612-547-1452 or email operations@vocalessence.org.

For more information on VocalEssence auditions, click here.