Season concert

VocalEssence Ensemble Singers
Philip Brunelle, conductor

Hail, Minnesota! The internationally- acclaimed VocalEssence Ensemble Singers traveled the state along scenic Highway 23 for the North Star Tour, sharing our state's musical heritage with stops in Marshall, Luverne, Montevideo, Duluth and St. Cloud

Their musical program spanned Minnesota’s leading choral composers, our state’s most famous singer-songwriters, and folksong traditions of our grandparents.  The Tour finished up with a grande finale Homecoming Concert in St. Paul on November 6, 2011.

Tour Archive Page

The North Star Tour is generously supported by Land O'Lakes.

VocalEssence is a fiscal year 2011 recipient of an Arts Tour 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.

The VocalEssence Ensemble Singers and Monroe Crossing will perform Carol Barnett’s The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass for Chorus America Conference attendees — in a concert which is open to the public. The concert will also feature Dominick Argento’s Walden Pond and the world premiere of a new work by Paul Rudoi, commissioned through the VocalEssence Essentially Choral program with funding from the Jerome Foundation.

PLEASE NOTE: CHANGE OF VENUE

This concert will take place at CENTRAL LUTHERAN CHURCH in Minneapolis, a change of venue from the 11-12 VocalEssence Season Brochure.

Advance ticket sales for this performance are now closed. The on-site box office will open at 9:15 am on Saturday at Plymouth Congregational Church.

The young and young at heart are welcome at Star of Wonder, our annual one-hour family holiday concert. Youngsters are invited to sit up close as members of the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers perform festive and familiar holiday music, including a rousing “Twelve Days of Christmas” holiday sing-along. Bring the whole family!

As the host of the 2012 Chorus America Conference, VocalEssence will welcome a multitude of Minnesota choirs to join them on stage for a colossal choral concert celebrating Minnesota composers. It promises to be an unforgettable night — the perfect season finale for any choral music lover.

FEaturing:

Cantus
Choral Arts Ensemble
Magnum Chorum
Minnesota Chorale
National Lutheran Choir
One Voice Mixed Chorus
The Singers
VocalEssence Chorus
And a massed youth choir of more than 200 voices!

Concert Conversation at 7 pm with composer Tarik O’Regan

VocalEssence Chorus & Ensemble Singers
Copper Street Brass Quintet
Maria Jette, soprano
Hyounsoo Sohn, mezzo-soprano
Dan Dressen, tenor
James Bohn, baritone
Philip Brunelle, conductor

Let VocalEssence and Copper Street Brass Quintet guide your musical tour of London — you won’t even need a ticket for the tube! Queue up for the American premiere of The Night’s Untruth by Tarik O’Regan (co-commissioned by VocalEssence) and The Far Theatricals of Day by Jonathan Dove. Be ready for some jolly good music!

TWO PERFORMANCES

Friday, March 9 2012 (8 pm)

Saturday, March 10, 2012 (8 pm)

Concert Conversation at 7 pm with Jordan Sramek

The Rose Ensemble, Jordan Sramek, artistic director
University of St. Thomas Chamber Singers, Angela Broeker, music director
VocalEssence Ensemble Singers
Philip Brunelle, conductor

Mexico stretches more than two thousand miles from southeast to northwest, a vast arena of cultures and languages. The Rose Ensemble, University of St. Thomas Chamber Singers and the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers will combine their voices to explore Mexico’s music of ancient times, the Renaissance and today. Hear settings of traditional folk music along with music of today’s contemporary Mexican composers — sung in Spanish and in Mexico’s many indigenous languages.

Concert Conversation at 3 pm with composer Hannibal Lokumbe

Tonia Hughes, soloist
Ramsey School, Performing Arts Magnet Children’s Choir
Jazz Quartet featuring Hannibal Lokumbe, trumpet
Macalester College Percussion Ensemble, Sowah Mensah, director
VocalEssence Chorus
Philip Brunelle, conductor

The African continent is rich in musical sounds for voices and drums. VocalEssence opens this year’s WITNESS concert by celebrating some of these sounds with music from South Africa, Kenya, Cameroon and Ghana: a wonderful combination of songs about work, praise, and animals sung in the dialects of Luo, Xhosa, Zulu, Kamba and Cameroon. Joining the VocalEssence Chorus and conductor Philip Brunelle will be the percussion ensemble from Macalester College and their director, Sowah Mensah. Don’t miss the opening procession with the seldom-seen royal drums of Ghana!

Joyce Awards-winning composer Hannibal Lokumbe (Dear Mrs. Parks, WITNESS 2007) returns to VocalEssence for the world premiere of his ambitious new composition, In the Spirit of Being. Be part of a transformative journey as he lifts up our spirits and shows us the miracle of life, bearing WITNESS to our connection to the past, the future and each other.

Funded in part through New Music USA’s MetLife Creative Connections program.

Saturday, December 3, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Colonial Church of Edina, 6200 Colonial Way, Edina

 Sunday, December 4, 2011 at 4 pm
Plymouth Congregational Church, 1919 LaSalle Avenue, Minneapolis

Friday, December 9, 2011 at 7:30 pm

Advance ticket sales for this performance are closed. The on-site box office will open at 6:30 pm on Friday at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church.
Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church, 12650 Johnny Cake Ridge Road, Apple Valley

Saturday, December 10, 2011 at 7:30 pm

 Advance ticket sales for this performance are closed. Fewer than 20 tickets remain and will be available for purchase at the door. The on-site box office will open at 6:30 pm on Saturday at Trinity Lutheran Church.
Trinity Lutheran Church, 115 North 4th Street, Stillwater

Sunday, December 11, 2011 at 4 pm

 Advance ticket sales for this performance are closed. Fewer than 20 tickets remain and will be available for purchase at the door. The on-site box office will open at 2:30 pm on Sunday at Plymouth Congregational Church.
Plymouth Congregational Church, 1919 LaSalle Avenue, Minneapolis

VocalEssence Chorus & Ensemble Singers
Chamber orchestra
Soloists: Laura Hynes Smith, soprano (first weekend) and Maria Jette, soprano (second weekend); Anders Eckman, tenor; Steve Burger, baritone; and Jonah Berthelsen, boy soprano
Philip Brunelle, conductor

This year’s VocalEssence Welcome Christmas concert celebrates the holidays with the warmth of traditional carols and the exhilaration of new songs for the season. 

A bouquet of French carols will add a certain je ne sais quoi to the traditional VocalEssence Christmas concerts. The 32-voice Ensemble Singers will be performing favorites such as O Holy Night, Carol of the Birds, Angels We Have Heard on High and Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella in their original French. (See our video with "celebrity endorser" Bradley introducing the French carols of Christmas!)

Every year since 1998, VocalEssence and American Composers Forum have co-sponsored a contest for composers to write new Christmas carols. This year’s contest called for new carols for men’s voices accompanied by English horn. The winning carols, by James Kallembach (Chicago, IL) and Robert Sieving (Minnetonka, MN), will be premiered at Welcome Christmas.

A highlight of the concert will be the performance of the classic Christmas cantata So Hallow’d Is the Time by Stephen Paulus. Scored for mixed chorus with string orchestra, it will feature Laura Hynes Smith, soprano (first weekend) and Maria Jette, soprano (second weekend); Anders Eckman, tenor; Steve Burger, baritone; and Jonah Berthelsen, boy soprano. The texts are drawn from English poets of the 17th and 18th centuries, including William Shakespeare, John Donne, Robert Southwell and John Milton.

Welcome Christmas will be recorded for broadcast in 2012 on Minnesota Public Radio Classical (regional) and American Public Media (national).

VocalEssence Ensemble Singers
Philip Brunelle, conductor
Concert Conversation at 3 pm with select members of the Ensemble Singers

Hail, Minnesota! The VocalEssence Ensemble Singers are returning from a statewide tour. Thanks to a special grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, they’ve been traveling the state along scenic Highway 23 and now they’re ready to come home to “The Fitz” and sing for you! The concert repertoire will focus on our musical heritage, including Minnesota composers, singer-songwriters and the folksongs of our grandparents. Expect a high-spirited afternoon of all things Minnesota!

The North Star Tour is generously supported by Land O'Lakes.

VocalEssence is a fiscal year 2011 recipient of an Arts Tour 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.