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Jennifer Weismann 
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VOCALESSENCE ANNOUNCES CONCERTS FOR “MUSIC MOVES US,” 2021-2022 SEASON 
MN Choral Ensemble returns to in-person performances,  while offering additional option of streaming concerts 
   
MINNEAPOLIS—July 31, 2021—VocalEssence, one of the world’s premier choral music organizations, announces its 2021-2022 concert season, themed “Music Moves Us.” In person concerts will resume, with VocalEssence singers delighted to perform in front of live audiences again in favorite venues like Orchestra Hall, the Ordway, the Basilica of St. Mary, Plymouth Congregational Church and Roseville Lutheran Church. In addition, the new season will maintain one of the pandemic-era adaptations which gave access to a large and grateful audience of choral music lovers: online concert streaming.   

VocalEssence season tickets will go on sale starting August 23, 2021. Single tickets go on sale September 17, 2021. For season tickets, details about the season, individual tickets and other information, please visit www.vocalessence.org.   

Online concert streaming will move from VocalEssence On Demand, launched during the pandemic, to a new home on the VocalEssence website. The new digital streaming service will be free and available to all.    

Press images are available here. 

“It’s finally happening—a return to the live performances that make choral music so magical,” says Philip Brunelle, VocalEssence artistic director and founder. “The promise of joining voices and surrounding an audience with vocal energy has sustained us over many hard months, but we are returning as an organization stronger than ever. By continuing to offer our concerts as digital streaming experiences, we can keep connections we formed during the pandemic going, encouraging choral appreciation in everyone with an internet connection.”  

 “This new season is a tribute to the power of music to move us,” says G. Phillip Shoultz, III, VocalEssence associate artistic director. “We’ve watched as a growing demand for social change has pushed its way to the center of the national conversation, and music plays a huge role in helping us stay unified, inspired, and focused as the battle against inequality on so many fronts absorbs our energy. We’re ready to sing together again and keep one another excited about the great possibilities we have the power to manifest, when we speak with one voice.”

Events in the 2021-2022 season include: 

• CONCERT SERIES: Hope Lives Here, Saturday October 16, 2021: Join the VocalEssence Chorus, Ensemble Singers, and Singers Of This Age, Minnesota Dance Theatre, and a chamber instrumental ensemble in an exuberant return to Orchestra Hall. Reflect on our journey through the pandemic and be reassured in the promise of hope for the future as we experience a fresh interpretation of Leonard Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms,” juxtaposed with Astor Piazzolla’s tango-infused tribute to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, “Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas” (Four Seasons of Buenos Aires). Traverse a range of emotions as you witness movement including original choreography featuring the Company of Minnesota Dance Theater and VocalEssence Singers Of This Age. VocalEssence will also present the world premieres of Gabriel Kahane’s “Choral Music,” an exploration and memoir of life as a choral singer, commissioned by VocalEssence and Kyle Pederson’s “The Other Side.” Kahane and Pederson are exciting new voices in classical composition.  

• CONCERT SERIES: Bach’s Christmas Oratorio Friday December 3, 2021: “Shout for joy!” exclaims the choir, joined by timpani, trumpets, and the rest of the orchestra in the opening chorus of J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. Ring in the season with the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers and the Bach Society of Minnesota as we perform one of the greatest musical Christmas stories of all time. Nearly 300 years after its creation, Bach’s narrative recitatives, beautiful arias, solemn chorales, and magnificent choral writing prove more popular than ever. Join us on this vivid musical journey through the mystery of the nativity in the beautiful Basilica of Saint Mary led by Philip Brunelle and Matthias Maute, conductor of the Bach Society of Minnesota. 

• CONCERT SERIES: Welcome Christmas, December 11 and 12, 2021: Experience the mystery of the season through a mother’s eyes featuring the VocalEssence Chorus, Singers Of This Age (VESOTA), and members of the Ensemble Singers. José Maurício Garcia Nunes’ exquisite setting of the Magnificat (Song of Mary) and selections by B.E. Boykin, Vicente Lusitano, and Zanaida Robles shine alongside stories from modern day mothers and familiar carols, transporting us to a place of deep love, exuberant joy, everlasting hope, and abiding peace felt on that first Christmas morning. The program will be performed at Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis at 4 PM and 7 PM on Saturday, December 11, 2021; and at Roseville Lutheran Church in Roseville at 4 PM on Sunday, December 12, 2021.

• CONCERT SERIES: WITNESS: Rejoice!, Sunday March 6, 2022: The Aeolians, a world-renowned choir from Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama, an Historically Black College and University, are giving us so many reasons to “Rejoice.” Named the “2017 Choir of the World” at the World Choir Games, The Aeolians inspire audiences to stand up and cheer for more, whether singing the music of Bach, spirituals, or 21st century masterpieces. The Aeolians join the VocalEssence Chorus, and Singers Of This Age, at Orchestra Hall in a program that affirms Black joy and resilience through the music of Nathaniel Dett, Adolphus Hailstork, and many others highlighting the rich array of music from the Black experience.  

• TOUR: 2022 Bob Dylan Revisited Tour, Friday April 1 in Detroit Lakes, Saturday April 2 in Grand Rapids, and Saturday April 30 in Red Wing: Bob Dylan’s timeless music has been covered by everyone from Jimi Hendrix to the Kronos Quartet. Now it’s time to add a choir to the list. Join professional choir VocalEssence Ensemble Singers as they reimagine Dylan in The Times They Are A-Changin’: The Words and Music of Bob Dylan, commissioned in honor of his 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature and arranged by Steve Hackman. Kick back and hear Dylan’s music like it’s the first time. Each concert will open with a performance by a local choir.  

• CONCERT SERIES: Choosing Love, Sunday April 24, 2022: Through singing, movement, spoken word, and visual art, VocalEssence Singers Of This Age and guest artists invite us to envision a world where we listen to and learn from each other. This concert affirms our belief that every person is worthy of acceptance. It is a call, in the midst of it all, to choose love. Choosing Love, features several co-created original works and is a culmination of a year of interactive workshops and conversations held in Twin Cities neighborhoods and we be presented at the Ordway Concert Hall. 

• CONCERT SERIES:  Satan’s Fall, Sunday May 8, 2022: The VocalEssence Chorus and Ensemble Singers tell the story of creation through the voices of composers across time and cultures, culminating in the Regional Premiere of “Satan’s Fall,” a new composition by Stewart Copeland, drummer for British hitmakers The Police. Feel the driving rhythm of the voices in this oratorio inspired by John Milton’s epic poem “Paradise Lost” at Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis. Celebrated tenor Nathan Granner and dexterous soprano Jamie Chamberlin will be guest soloists at this concert, with stage direction by Peter Rothstein of Theater Latté Da. The composer, Stewart Copeland will be in attendance and will join us for a pre-concert talk.   

 VocalEssence, the choral ensemble Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones says “sings magnificently”—reaches thousands of students, singers, and composers each year through its learning and engagement programs, contests, and support for innovative art. VocalEssence was founded in 1969 and has debuted more than 300 commissions and world premieres. For more information, visit www.vocalessence.org.   

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