VocalEssence News
For Immediate Release
Contact: Katryn Conlin, 612-547-1459

Capsule:
VocalEssence presents American Voices – with special guest Cantus
Sunday, October 1, 2006 (4 pm)
Orchestra Hall, 1111 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN
Tickets: $20 – $35 (students 6-18 & college half-price; ticket service charges apply);
To order: 612-371-5656 (800-292-4141) or www.vocalessence.org

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (August 18, 2006) — The VocalEssence Chorus and Ensemble Singers, under the direction of Philip Brunelle, will open the 2006-2007 Season with American Voices, a concert of inspiring choral masterpieces and delightful folksong settings. The acclaimed ensemble Cantus will join VocalEssence in this all-American repertoire, which is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts American Masterpieces: Choral Music initiative. American Voices takes place on Sunday, October 1, 2006 (4:00 pm) at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis. For tickets and information, call 612-371-5656 (800-292-4141) or visit www.vocalessence.org.

American Voices will showcase composers from across three centuries, among them William Billings, Nathaniel Dett, Randall Thompson, Aaron Copland and Alice Parker. Music of several leading Minnesota-connected composers-Dominick Argento, Brent Michael Davids, Aaron Jay Kernis, Libby Larsen and Stephen Paulus-makes up a section of the concert. All of the works are by composers recognized as American masters by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Cantus, a nine-voice male chorus based in Minneapolis, will be featured in Samuel Barber’s dramatic piece A Stopwatch and an Ordnance Map. Written in 1940, this work is a setting of a lament for a soldier who has fallen in the Spanish Civil War. The VocalEssence Ensemble Singers, the 32-voice professional chorus of VocalEssence, will be featured in Ned Rorem’s poignant In Time of Pestilence.

American Voices is presented as part of American Masterpieces: Choral Music, a new initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts that promotes regional celebrations of our country’s master composers. Cantus and VocalEssence are among eight ensembles across the country chosen by the NEA to present festivals of American choral music. In addition to the October 1 concert in Minneapolis, Cantus and VocalEssence are bringing American Masterpieces to northern Minnesota in late September with concerts, masterclasses and workshops involving choirs from Virginia, Hibbing, Duluth and Grand Rapids.

For additional press information and images, please contact Katryn Conlin, VocalEssence Communications Director at kconlin@vocalessence.org or 612-547-1459.

Download press photos for VocalEssence events at www.vocalessence.org >news_and_media > image and file downloads.

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American Voices
October 1, 2006 – Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis, MN
Program as of August, 2006

VocalEssence Chorus
Aaron Copland: Ching-a-ring-chaw, Simple Gifts
Cantus
Aaron Copland: Zion’s Walls

Minnesota Composers
VocalEssence Ensemble Singers – Stephen Paulus: The Day is Done
Cantus – Dominick Argento: They Shall Hunger No More
VocalEssence Ensemble Singers – Aaron Jay Kernis: I Cannot Dance
VocalEssence Chorus – Libby Larsen: Beneath These Alien Stars
VocalEssence Ensemble Singers – Brent Michael Davids: Native American Suite

Cantus ~ Featured Selection
Samuel Barber: A Stopwatch and an Ordnance Map

VocalEssence Ensemble Singers
R. Nathaniel Dett: Ave Maria

Cantus, VocalEssence Chorus and Ensemble Singers
Randall Thompson: Finale of Testament of Freedom

~Intermission~

VocalEssence Ensemble Singers ~ Featured Selections
Ned Rorem: In Time of Pestilence; Sing, My Soul

Folk Songs & Spirituals
Cantus Stephen Foster: Camptown Races
William Billings: Shiloh
VocalEssence Ensemble Singers: Norman Luboff: Skip to my Lou
Cantus Robert Shaw/Alice Parker: What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor
VocalEssence Chorus: Harry T. Burleigh: Deep River
Moses Hogan: My Soul’s Been Anchored

Cantus, VocalEssence Chorus and Ensemble Singers
Leonard Bernstein: Make our Garden Grow

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VocalEssence
1900 Nicollet Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55403 USA
www.vocalessence.org