If you were at Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis Sunday afternoon for the opening of VocalEssence’s 45th season, we don’t need to tell you how glorious it was, how deeply, almost unbearably moving. Originally scheduled for Orchestra Hall, the concert was relocated to the church because of the ongoing contract dispute between Minnesota Orchestra management…  Read More →

REVIEW: For its 45th-season opener, Sunday afternoon at Central Lutheran in Minneapolis. VocalEssence went big with composer Jonathan Dove’s “There Was A Child.” For its 45th-season opener, Sunday afternoon at Central Lutheran in Minneapolis. VocalEssence went big. There was soprano Maria Jette, tenor Dan Dressen, the St. Olaf Choir and Northfield Youth Choirs, more than…  Read More →

By Rob Hubbard Anyone who has lost a child knows that the pain and grief are too overwhelming for words or music. So English composer Jonathan Dove took on an immense challenge in accepting a commission to write an elegiac oratorio for a 19-year-old drowning victim. He could have gone small with it, staying away…  Read More →