Philip Brunelle:
Artistic Director and Founder Philip Brunelle is in the midst of a “planning month” as he prepares for the upcoming 53rd season—lots of meetings with composers, artists, and finalizing the season announcement for each of you!
The final Plymouth Summer Concert occurred on July 20 when Jearlyn and Jevetta Steele gave us their wonderful voices in song with Sanford Moore at the keyboard. Philip was a part of two memorial services for dear VocalEssence friends this month: Jack Cole and Mary Hulings Rice.
Philip is working with two excellent—and busy—summer interns! Aaron Schondorf is diligently cataloging more of the VocalEssence archives and also has finished preparing all the instrumental parts and filing them away—a big job! At the same time, Blake Wieseler is continuing to digitize the final 40 Musical Moments composers.
Philip has completed editing two volumes of Stephen Paulus arias—the first time Stephen’s opera arias have been available in male and female volumes. This will be a wonderful resource for singers, both for recital use as well as for auditions. Subito Press hopes to have them published this autumn.
G. Phillip Shoultz, III:
After returning from workshops in North Carolina and time with family in Georgia, Associate Artistic Director G. Phillip Shoultz, III moved right into teaching four graduate conducting courses for music educators at the University of St. Thomas. Then, he was one of three presenters invited to headline the Texas Choral Directors Association conference in San Antonio. While there, GPS presented three highly regarded sessions on Building Up A New World in the choral arts. One attendee commented, “Your sessions were fantastic! A source of reflective solace in my TCDA experience.”
One of the unexpected highlights from his travel was having the opportunity to connect with many people who became part of the Take 5 family throughout the pandemic. People from South Carolina, Georgia, Indiana, Wisconsin, Tennessee, and Texas all shared how valuable Take 5 with GPS was in helping them navigate the challenges of isolation and loss. Here are a few pictures of GPS with his new Take 5 family members.
