VocalEssence ¡Cantaré!  program connects Mexican
composers with Worthington area schools in Greater Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS,
Minn. (March 21, 2011) – Thanks to
Minnesota’s Legacy Funding, over 400 Worthington area students and community
members will join the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers to perform the world
premieres of brand new works, written specifically for them by two Mexican
composers taking part in the VocalEssence
¡Cantaré! Program. This year-long
program, culminates on Thursday, April 28th with the VocalEssence ¡Cantaré! Community Concert at the Memorial
Auditorium in Worthington. The performances at 6 pm & 8 pm are free and open to the public, but
tickets are required. Free tickets are available at the following two
locations: the Memorial Auditorium Box Office and Nobles County Integration
Collaborative.

“It’s the best of two worlds,” says Managing Director Mary Ann Polk, “¡Cantaré! Worthington embodies what the Legacy Funding
was meant to do, benefitting both the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota with
one community arts program.”

The VocalEssence
¡Cantaré! program connects Mexican composers with students and adults in
our community through residencies in schools and choral organizations. This
cross-cultural program creates a deeper understanding of the rich Mexican
classical musical heritage, develops a new understanding of the traditions that
are melding Mexican and American cultures, and creates a new body of Spanish
language music for voice and instruments that will be shared with the
community. This is the first year for
this program in Worthington; the participating singers are from Prairie
Elementary School, Worthington Middle School, Worthington Senior High School
Trojan Choir and Concert Choir, Bel Canto,Trojan Express, the Worthington
Chamber Singers, directed by Eric Parrish, and the VocalEssence Ensemble
Singers.

Composers Jesús Echevarría
and Diana Syrse Valdés first
visited Worthington in September 2010 to meet their respective ensembles. After
one week together, the composers returned to Mexico to begin composing new
works, which were delivered to the singers in December. During their second
visit to Minnesota in March, the composers rehearsed their new compositions
with their ensembles. Finally, this year-long educational program culminates
when the composers return for a third and final time in April for the world
premieres of their compositions at the VocalEssence
¡Cantaré! Community Concert.

Jesús Echevarría is known throughout Mexico for his
excellence in music composition. Currently based in Mexico City, his works have
been performed by prominent Mexican musicians and have included pieces for
choir, orchestra, solo instrument, and Mexican folk instruments. He received
first place in CONACULTA’s National Music Promotion composition contest in
2004. He also received the Grant for Creators from the State Fund for Culture
and Arts of Baja, California for his composition Mexican Mass. Jesús has been
working with the elementary and middle school-age students in Worthington, as
well as the Worthington Chamber Singers.

Composer, arranger
and singer Diana Syrse Valdés has been commissioned to write choral
music, chamber music, and opera. Her music has been performed in Mexico, the
United States, France, Russia, and Venezuela. She earned degrees in singing and
composition from the National School of Music of the National Autonomous University
of México and continued her graduate studies in composition at Indiana
University in Bloomington. Diana has been working with the high school choirs
and the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers.

For press
information and photographs related to ¡Cantaré!
Community Concert Celebration, contact Malia Cole (612-547-1459, 
mcole@vocalessence.org).

 
 VocalEssence
is a fiscal year 2011 recipient of an Arts Learning grant from the Minnesota
State Arts Board. This activity is funded, in part, by the Minnesota arts and
cultural heritage fund as appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature with
money from the Legacy Amendment vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4,
2008.

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