Schools & Education

Sponsor a Seat for just $25

Who is your inspiration? On February 24, 3,462 students from 34 schools will hear our radically diverse youth choir VocalEssence Singers Of This Age at the WITNESS Young People’s Concerts. But here is the catch… In order to make the concerts possible for all, we need to raise $25 per student. Sponsor a seat (or two)…  Read More

VESOTA Wins Chorus America Education Award

April brought a huge thrill as Chorus America recognized VocalEssence with its 2019 Education and Community Engagement Award for our youth choral program, VocalEssence Singers Of This Age (VESOTA).  Chorus America is a prominent advocacy organization for our nation’s choral groups, and its Education and Community Engagement Award recognizes the best emerging program (less than…  Read More

VocalEssence WITNESS School Workshops in Full Swing

Our VocalEssence WITNESS School Program workshops are in full swing, with all eight VocalEssence Teaching Artists busy conducting workshops with more than 4,300 students from 32 elementary, middle and high schools, through the lens of their artistic medium, around the subject of trailblazing African American and African women in our community. Recently, at Alice Smith…  Read More

Sponsor a Seat in Honor of Someone Today

Let’s fill the hall!   Orchestra Hall, that is. 4,245 students are slated to attend the VocalEssence WITNESS Young People’s Concerts this February, and celebrate the amazing African and African American women who change our world for the better! But here’s the catch… The cost of the VocalEssence WITNESS program and Young People’s Concerts is $28.50…  Read More

VocalEssence ¡Cantaré! School Visits Spring 2018

VocalEssence ¡Cantaré! brings the talents of composers from Mexico into Minnesota classrooms. This year’s composers are Bernardo Feldman and Jimena Contreras, who were in Minnesota for a residency March 12-23, 2018. It was their second of three total visits to our VocalEssence ¡Cantaré! partner schools. This trip the composers had an opportunity to meet with…  Read More

VocalEssence Singers Of This Age (SOTA)

The singers from the VocalEssence Youth Choir recently announced themselves to the local community using their official name: VocalEssence Singers Of This Age, or SOTA, for short. Since this is the inaugural year for the diverse choir, with students from all over the Twin Cities, the students were given the task naming the group. “During…  Read More

VocalEssence Presents Award for Creative Programming to Northfield High School Director

VocalEssence was pleased to present the Award for Creative Programming to Kyle Eastman, director of the Northfield High School Concert Choir. The award is presented annually to a Minnesota-based non-professional choral organization in order to uphold high standards of excellence in repertoire selection, to acknowledge and reward creativity in performing choral performance, and to affirm the importance…  Read More

VocalEssence Youth Choir a ‘Breath of Fresh Air’

More than 50 students from 13 Twin Cities High Schools have attended the first three rehearsals of the inaugural year of the VocalEssence Youth Choir led by VocalEssence Associate Conductor and Education Program Manager G. Phillip Shoultz, III. Each rehearsal includes a mix of singing, social bonding activities, and work with the guest artists that…  Read More

VocalEssence Launches Diverse Youth Choir

VocalEssence is expanding upon the work we have done for nearly three decades in providing Minneapolis and St. Paul students access to choral music. We are creating a  VocalEssence Youth Choir that revolutionizes our concept of choir and seeks to reflect the diversity of our community in its membership. Through this choir, we seek to…  Read More

VocalEssence Programs Enhancing Music Education in Minnesota

For the next three months, VocalEssence will feature its education programs to promote Music Makes Us Whole, an initiative that brings together non-profit and for-profit organizations in Minnesota to raise awareness about the ways a rich music education enhances a child’s development. This month, we’re highlighting VocalEssence WITNESS School Program and Lullaby Project. VocalEssence WITNESS…  Read More