VocalEssence celebrates 20th anniversary of WITNESS in 2010

WITNESS Anniversaries (PDF)
WITNESS Commissions & Premieres (PDF)

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (December 1, 2009) – Every year since 1991, the Minneapolis-based choral music organization VocalEssence has honored the classical music of African American composers in the annual VocalEssence WITNESS concert. Now in its 20th season, WITNESS has become one of the most extensive programs of its kind in the nation, designed to illuminate the contributions of African Americans to our shared American culture. Much more than a concert, WITNESS has grown to include a School Program placing teaching artists in Minnesota schools, a WITNESS Young People’s Concert, and a series of four commercial recordings.

The WITNESS program began when VocalEssence Artistic Director Philip Brunelle noted that very little classical music by African American composers was being programmed in conjunction with Black History Month. Through research at the Library of Congress and the input of colleagues and composers across the country, he developed repertoire for the first WITNESS concert. In the 19 years since, VocalEssence has commissioned and premiered many new choral works and arrangements on WITNESS concerts as well as a full-scale symphony, a ballet, and a piece for chorus narrated by Academy Award-winning actor James Earl Jones.

The name for the program was inspired by a conversation between Philip Brunelle and composer David Baker, Director of Jazz Studies at Indiana University, who suggested the name WITNESS — “Because that’s what you’re doing; you’re witnessing.”

WITNESS has drawn the participation of many nationally recognized guest artists. To name a few, past poet laureate Rita Dove, baritone Jubilant Sykes, jazz singer/composer Bobby McFerrin, jazz pianist Dr. Billy Taylor, and cellist Anthony Eliot have been special guests for WITNESS. New music has been commissioned from many composers, including Patrice Rushen, William Banfield, Ysaye Barnwell, Alvin Singleton, and Rosephanye Powell.

Reaching over 120,000 students since its inception, the WITNESS School Program highlights African Americans’ contributions to the fine arts. During the 2009-2010 school year, 7,500 students in 40 schools will participate. Eleven African American Teaching Artists will lead more than 200 classroom workshops in dance, poetry, music, storytelling, and theatre. They will prepare the students to attend the WITNESS Young People’s Concerts featuring VocalEssence and this year’s special guest, Sweet Honey In The Rock.

VocalEssence has created the definitive overview of classical music by African American composers on a collection of well-received compact discs: What A Mighty God—Spirituals and Gospel for Chorus; Skyward My People Rose—Music of William Grant Still; Dance Like the Wind—Music of Today’s Black Composers; and Got the Saint Louis Blues—Classical Music in the Jazz Age.

Local, state, and national organizations support WITNESS including the National Endowment for the Arts, the General Mills Foundation, Best Buy Children’s Foundation, 3M, St. Paul Travelers, and Medtronic.

For more information on WITNESS, please contact Jennifer Bauer (612-547-1459, jbauer@vocalessence.org).