VocalEssence program links
Mexican composers with area schools

MINNEAPOLIS,
Minn. (March 21, 2011) – Over 400 Twin
Cities area students and community members will join the VocalEssence Chorus
& Ensemble Singers to perform the world premieres of music composed
specifically for them by two Mexican composers taking part in the VocalEssence ¡Cantaré! Program. This year-long program culminates on Tuesday,
May 24th with the VocalEssence ¡Cantaré! Community Concert at Ordway Center for the Performing Arts. The
performance at 7 pm is free and open to the public, but tickets are required.
Free tickets are available at the following locations: Ordway Center box
office, Consulate of Mexico, Latino Communications Network office and
Neighborhood House at Wellstone Center.

The VocalEssence ¡Cantaré! program links 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 voices and instruments that will be
shared with the community. The
participating singers are from Como Park High School, Mound Westonka High
School, South High School, Adams Spanish Immersion School, Ramsey International
Fine Arts Center, Latino Children’s Choir and the VocalEssence Chorus & Ensemble
Singers.

Composers Horacio
Uribe and Lilia Vázquez first visited the Twin Cities
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 May for the world premieres of their
compositions at the VocalEssence ¡Cantaré! Community Concert.

Horacio Uribe, born in Mexico, was educated at the Tchaikovsky State
Conservatory in Moscow, Russia, graduating in 1995 with a Master’s degree in
composition. As a composer, Uribe has a catalog of over forty pieces for solo
instruments as well as chamber and orchestra works. Professor Uribe is
currently a researcher at the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo
(UMSNH) in Morelia, Michoacan; a Preparatory Coordinator of music at the
Popular School of Fine Arts in UMSNH, where he has taught harmony,
counterpoint, orchestration, analysis and composition; and an academic
instructor at the Conservatorio de las Rosas, AC.

Lilia Vázquez studied composition in Europe obtaining degrees in
Music Theory and Composition in Germany. After moving back to Mexico, Vázquez
won first prize in the Mexico National Contest Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz with
the work entitled To Christ the Blessed Sacrament, Communion Day. 
Her works include orchestral, choral, chamber, and piano repertoire, and have
been performed in major festivals in France, Germany, the United States, Italy,
Cuba and Mexico.  

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.