VocalEssence and American Composers Forum have chosen five composers to participate in the May 2008 Essentially Choral reading session. The public is invited to attend a working rehearsal of their new music for voices and instruments on Saturday, May 31.

Essentially Choral provides an opportunity for emerging composers to develop their skills in writing for choral ensemble, either a cappella or with instruments. The program is co-sponsored by American Composers Forum and VocalEssence with the generous support of the Jerome Foundation. The selected composers are:

Elizabeth Joan Kelly (Tallahassee, FL): Tiare Tahiti (trumpet, piano)
Jonathan Kolm (Austin, TX): On the Beach at Night (a cappella)
Matthew Van Brink (New York, NY): A Thousand Tender Passages (harp, cello)
Scott Sandersfeld (Minneapolis, MN): And Every Stone Shall Cry (a cappella)
David Mercer (Minneapolis, MN): Psalm 43 (a cappella)

The public reading session on Saturday, May 31, 2008 from 10 am to 1 pm at The Music Room, SPCO Center, Third Floor (408 St. Peter Street, Saint Paul).

Celebrating rich Mexican musical traditions, ¡Cantaré! is a cross-cultural exchange program connecting composers from Mexico with students of all ages across the metropolitan area. Composers Jorge Córdoba, Sabina Covarrubias, and Jorge Cózatl (pictured) will work with students to create a deeper understanding and appreciation of Mexican classical and folk music, while writing new music that will be premiered at the performance. This new initiative showcases the rich contributions of Mexican music and celebrate the culture that is now a part of our local heritage!

Create your subscription of three or more VocalEssence performances and save!

Children of all ages are welcome at Star of Wonder, our annual one-hour family holiday concert. The VocalEssence Ensemble Singers and the Mississippi Stars dance troupe perform a feast of favorite holiday music.

Create your subscription of three or more VocalEssence performances and save!

Community Concert — open to all ages, general admission seating

Join us for this family-friendly version of the WITNESS concert, including repertoire from the concert at Ordway in an old-time radio show format, performed by the VocalEssence Chorus and Ensemble Singerswith big band orchestra, soloists and conductor Philip Brunelle.

Presented in one act, this concert features the talents of Sanford Moore, Dennis Spears and Tom Keith in "Duke Ellington on the Air" with a big band made up of the High School All Star Jazz Band (featuring talented high school students from Henry, Roosevelt, Southwest and Washburn High Schools in Minneapolis and Walker West Music Academy in Saint Paul) plus the Augsburg Jazz Ensemble, directed by Robert Stacke.

 

During the 2007-2008 Season, the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers, the 32-voice professional mixed chorus of VocalEssence, have been on tour throughout the upper Midwest. VocalEssence is the only chorus in America to be supported through both years of the National Endowment for the Arts program American Masterpieces: Choral Music — Three Centuries of Genius.

In this final concert of 2007–2008, the Ensemble Singers will present highlights from the year’s tour, focusing on repertoire recognized by the NEA as American masterpieces. Three centuries of music will be covered, from William Billing’s plain-spoken hymn settings to the poignant grandeur of Leonard Bernstein’s “Make our Garden Grow” and beyond.

A one-hour family holiday concert held in Guild Hall at Plymouth Congregational Church, where the young children can sit up close to the performers on pillows and rugs. The wonderful voices of the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers are a joy for young and old alike!

Star of Wonder, an annual one-hour family holiday concert open to the young and young at heart, will be held in Guild Hall at Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis. Children are invited to sit right up front on rugs and pillows to enjoy the show and to take home a charming coloring page from children's book illustrator Lorin Walter.

The 32-voice VocalEssence Ensemble Singers and conductor Philip Brunelle will perform a variety of carols, along with special guest instrumentalists and dancers from Mississippi Creative Arts Magnet School.

The audience will enjoy singing along to familiar Christmas carols including a rousing version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” sing-along. And the talented Mississippi Stars dance troupe will entertain with lively interpretations of two carols.

Tickets for this special event are only $10 for adults and $5 for children ages 4-18. (Service charges may apply.) Children 3 and under are free!

Spooky tales, a signature monologue and spirited sing-alongs will make this family-friendly Halloween concert a treat for all. Along with storyteller Garrison Keillor, A Prairie Home Companion familiars Tim "R.I.P." Russell, Sue "Styx" Scott, "Screamin'" Tom Keith and Rich "Bones" Dworsky will join the VocalEssence Chorus conducted by Philip "Phantom" Brunelle.

British composer Judith Bingham contributes her newest piece, Ghost Towns of the American West, to the festivities. This work was made possible by a Barlow Foundation grant awarded to for her to compose a new work for three choruses: the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers in Minneapolis, the BBC Singers in London and the University of Utah Singers in Salt Lake City.

Plus, this special event is a benefit for VocalEssence community engagement programs that that serve schoolchildren, college students, adults, singers and composers.

Regular price tickets are $20-$35 (half price for students). A special section of VIP seating priced at $100 per ticket ($55 tax-deductible) is available that includes an exclusive post-concert reception with all of our special guests from A Prairie Home Companion.

This special event may also be ordered along with your VocalEssence season tickets. Call 612-624-2345 to order or purchase season tickets online.